Ten-second Vision

Mountain and morning collided again today,
The usual explosion
Of sun over cliffs--
Never common, though quotidian--
That eruption of airy light-magma
Flowing down the face of ragged rock,
Of warped and stunted scrub oak
And sorry straggles of spring growth;
Burning, bursting
The dry and the dead,
Dredging out the dark corners
Of the world, and of my head
With fire and light
Too hot in the soul for ordinary
Bland plain or dull feeling.

Another moment of light-fire
And I might be transformed altogether

But no, the collision is only
Instantaneous
Gone before I have time to take
More than a few awed, desperate breaths
And I'm crawling again,
Back in dimmer air,
With scraped hands and knees,
Trying to remember, to resurrect
Out of the droppings and dustpiles of my mind
That one flash of fire burning
Away the darkness--
Just a few small seconds of relief.