journey song #14:
more of Idat

o perfect this girl
on the planks, a boat
or a raft drifting.
o perfect this child
in a river, being
elsewho, elsewhen,
elsewhere.

then we are another girl,
an effigy in the treetops,
a decoy for another battle.
o perfect we were and are.

o sacred distraction, we send
ahead news of the war. We bring
thudding drums. And all
those dark inclusions.

February 1998