you passed by the willows
where they bend brushing water.
that is where i remember you,
your brown shoulders moving
smoothly as deer dipping
under young branches to meet me.
when you rode at dawn did you see me
in the willow shadows watching your body
become the galloping horse’s body
moving across grass like a fast cloud?
now when wind shifts against hissing grasses
i hear your flute song calling down dusk,
healing my slashed arms still wanting to bleed
this life back into earth to follow you
on a trail to the stars.
do you ever pause to watch a fast cloud
chase the herd you left below?
do you see a woman standing still by the willows
watching spaces between branches,
waiting for you?
orphan poems 