Dark Hour Thoughts of Callahan and Eleanor

If you could find the figure-
the other artist to draw you,
out of context- objectify-
see in a biased, a personal light,
or, in the light of a tree
or of a city lamp-
only not- complete and ready formed.
If that other figure, other artist-
stepping out of molded light- could strip,
bare utterly the body and,
make pliant the unbendable
sheerly by a force of vision.

Do all of this to see one in,
the tangle of a sheet or stretch of water,
or in the quickness of a glance,
so that the personal (formed
of mores, corrections, words,
and faulted attitudes) could leap out of focus,
escape onto another plane- exist.
at last with some autonomy
this kind of gift-
more potent than a resurrection
or resuscitation-
is what makes of a man
a hero, savior; all of this,
This which turns a flame into a purging fire
whose charring
can be seen only from the corner of the eye,
obliquely-
or in the seconds flicker of a lens.

by destruction only can we
save another-
love is secondary-