Oil Ode

from a recent walk on the North Shore Trails,
Burlington, Ontario near my home

OIL ODE

Oil which is green and time together
which is the flowing voice beneath

the dark petal of the toiling earth
which gives back its flow and time

O iridescent fire which moves and warms us
O viscous technicolour coat of possibility

O blood of the industrial earth
we commute from axon to dendrite

your petroleum-blue ichor in our veins
and in the veins of our incorporeal angel cars

O blood of gods and ferns
opalescent seed in the womb of our warm sky

you are the slow combustion of ancient times
a memory returned in the mother tongue of fire

O Oil, clothe us in your wild skin,
let us surprise the naked lamb of the world with our vigour