For what should not
Like the greens in Spring
Vines creeping
Up the sides of your leg
Moss involved in lineage.
Memory was lost
With blue-black baskets
That bobbed unevenly
About hands of ancient grain
Settling into the hallows.
And River flowed
With anonymous voices
That reached the trees
And clouds, boulders, and lichen,
And touched the lips
Of each those lost.
I wish for you to empty out
Each basket holding you back
So that the path from you to me
Could speedily find you at.
Not tangled like a natures saunter;
Not alarming like a highway;
Tender like a flower garden
A single track runs through
Worn raw to expose the soil
Frequent use and travel;
A favourite tree along the way
Picked and always greeted;
A bush that stands so proud and full
For one sweet season of the sun;
And at last the view of me to you
A happy moment dearly awaited
Greeting from an open door
Opened at my very soul.
When the leaves began to fall
You looked away again
Turned your head and said out loud
Mountain, why you growing so tall
But in the Autumn air
You blew the wild rivers afar
Into the foggy glens
Where the wild things went to sleep
But your so gentle feet
Touched not a rock upon the steep
Calling out to soothe each leaf
Cresting at the moon
For your harvest basket took you
From the meadow to the birch copse
To the little brook to cross
Where your harvest basket grew
But silently up so high
Mountain sighed and sighed
Why do you stay so far
Maiden from afar.
I tried so hard to fall away
Watching birds criss-cross my surreal expression
So far up in the sky
Two echos that I did not make
Reached my open ear
To which I gathered into a light basket
My designs I had carried so far
To set the mood I had intended
Now which I slowly departed from
I have not remembered the promise we made each other
No, I have forgot it just like the sunset we watched
And the kiss – we never shared
I did not walk those streets with you
In a foreign villa of unending desires
It was not of my hand that wrote thee thy letter
No, that would have broken my heart
To watch you walk off into the day
Of another dream I did not have.
I have not remembered the promise we made each other
And I have not watched the same movie on repeat
I do not remember curling up with you
Under my grandmother’s knit afghan,
Every time I take to my bike
I do not think of the basket upon yours
Instead I ring my bell so loud
My knees they knock me free.
Where the wind blows
My saddle shall rise
O’r the wild meadows she goes
When the birds wake me
My boots shall speed thee
O’r the wild meadows she goes
When the waves crash down
My trumpets shall shine
O’r the wild meadows she goes
Where the apple falls
My basket shall heave
O’r the wild meadows she goes
When the Lady calls for
My heart evermore then
O’r the wild meadows she goes
I walk each trail in early spring
(My eyes forever searching)
For what I know to recognize,
Last years treasure still so clear –
Purple shoots so proud and strong.
And when I happen upon a stand
My heart smiles, my joy is found
Tis seasons first bounty
Abundant and wild
Sprung to sting my hands!
Every leaf so delicately cherished
That joins the wicker basket
(I, so thankful and forever glad)
Will nourish my vitals
So vibrant and healthy
Upon a trail for another year.
I bring my soul into your every hair
Dangling there
An extension
Floating and waving upon your whim
And sunshine
Marks my smile
As the golden hour I should tell
Clears minds
And hurries home
With a full basket of blueberries
Ladders have begun
To disseminate my mental state,
Unpacked and re-packed
Long term storage boxes,
Dusty cardboard napkins.
Zigzagged metropolitan markets
With wicker baskets lined
With checkerboard napkins
And leftover spices
Under soiled paper napkins.
This night train is lonely
When the lights flicker just so,
I spend spare moments of memory
Re-reading the same four lines
Written on a folded square napkin.
Even visitors don’t bring lost songs
As they wipe their muddy shoes
At my open doors.
Like angels losing faith
I roam from here to you.
Along my back door, trails:
Straight out from here,
Switch crossing deeper into the woods.
I catch your disguise
Lost in my naked eyes.
Because I don’t know the answer.
I don’t know why we laugh
At birds feeding hungry.
I don’t know why I hear you
When you think long and
Deep into hollow’s eve
Flickering against the softness.
To catch me is your effort I praise;
Perhaps my missing piece,
My soul’s mate.
But long dropped baskets
Keeps staring at me.