Listen
The winds of ebb-tide night croon outside my window.
Blue moonlight lays a path before me in the burnt grass
beckoning, promising me your embrace
offering me my dearest dream
like a subway huckster with a solid gold watch.
Seduced by the satin scent of storm drowned roses
I listen to that dark voice.
Lifted by that call
I could walk, stride, run - even dance.
It moves me to the cliff more swiftly than lightning rips the clouds
Leaves me to stand on that crumbling-cookie edge
close my eyes, lean into the wind, listen to the shadows.
Trembling from the dream shocks
I listen and feel the vibration in my marrow.
Feel it building, shaking
breaking away the earth beneath my feet.
I must shut out that rampant, fitful ocean wind
move to the prairie
lie still on the flat land
brace my back against the earth
feel the steady current of the plains wind erode my skin
fill my hands with herbs
leave the roses to grow wild
fill my ears with silence
listen for my blood to still.
And if my toes wriggle in the thick grass
I will hold my breath till the lightning passes.
The cliff edge holds footprints
and I would not crush a blade of grass in leaving.
Page(s) 51
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