A Poem from Norway

THE CHURCH HAS A CHURCH BESIDE IT

- for Gunnar Kopperud

Jungle comrade,
drive me to the cows,
the sheep,
far from the steamshovels
that sidle up in the brief night
to watch me through the window.
Bring me up to the cemetery
in the hills,
where there is a church and
also a church beside it.
Tell me the saga of the surgeon
who separated the conjoined churches,
of the priest who loved
two sisters, or the choir
so magnificent they built
another church for the overflow.
Jungle comrade,
leave me on the banks
of the fjord. Introduce
me to your friends in the ice.

(written on the train from Jaren to Oslo, 30 May 05)