And so the metronome ticks, the distant shadows

of caribou drift over snow and thoughts come

easily at twilight when beekeepers’ ghosts

move through the empty orchard.

There is a rhythm to dream like the lost

breathing of the ancient parables, there is

a pulse to time in the scattered palpitations

of the stars as they travel their own solitude.

The imagination never sleeps as you do now,

the clouds will not stop racing through the heart,

so rest forever in the holy footprint

of the Buddha while your meditations glide

far out over the sea and your soul unwinds

in syllables of foam flashing from the waves

and a blue sail slowly rises into the air

each time the night boat comes near.

                       For Richard Maxwell

Rita Signorelli-Pappas's first collection of poems, Satyr's Wife, was published in 2009 by Serving House Books.  She works at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton and is currently completing a second collection of poems.