Cento on the Soul

by Bob Dougherty 
the clouds are moving in on Tiburon
like a school of sharks  (1)  
the moon came up early   a pale orange  (2)
before slipping back into a bed of silence  (3)
what if my cold eye took in   
the naked nymph in the fountain  (4)
I dreamed over a picture
of the December behind me
the black rocks off the black cliffs  (5)

something in me wants to believe  (6)
in the peace that passes all understanding 
and what I got was an axis of evil  (7)
a dark god in need of a human sacrifice 
smoothly turning its back on the earnest   (8)
and I know about the best of intentions  (9)
so I find the entrance to the
underground and descend again  (10)

on the wall one of Blake’s good angels
holding a child just out of reach from
an evil angel   and the words  (11)
man has no body distinct from his soul  (12)
he wanted to know if that was how I felt
and I didn’t hesitate to tell him  (13)
for so I created them free
and free they must remain  (14)
then I saw a world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wild flower
held infinity in the palm of my hand
and eternity in an hour   (15)

how is it we never tire of dreaming  (16) 
Notes:
Thomas Centolella:  1.  Southerly Wind and Fine Weather  2.  Loneliness  3.  Piano  4.  Simulacrum  5.  The Lost Coast 
6.  La Purisma  7.  Orange Alert Creeping into Red  8.  Namaste  9.  Spirit  10.  Ave Maria  11.  The Soul  13.  Counterpoint  16.  The Pacific
William Blake:  12.  The Marriage of Heaven and Hell  15.  Auguries of Innocence
John Milton:  14. Paradise Lost