Heard they're getting ready to close
Down the high road
As no one they know
Uses it anymore

In desperate need  
Of major repair
Because no one out there
Really much cares

A once solid road
Well traveled on
The shoulders now soft
The pavement worn down

And with the low road
So easy to take
Just don't read the signs
That point out the mistakes

Heard the high road
Is soon to be closed
With no one they know
Using it anymore

1
and
seven
squared
times twenty
again and some
more plus just a circle
or two, counting on fingers
to one, counting yet some more
and over and over again, don't forget
triangles now they count for a lot, you know,
figure it out, add it all up, equals a gazillion and
ten to the power of ten hundred thousand million+1

My husband whose hair is
a ripple from the midnight river

whose laughter is the glow
of noonday sun on the ocean

whose hands are the breeze across
my face and the thunder in the earth

my once sailor who now works the earth
and sweats the salty sea from his pores

my green man whose hands,
both gentle and strong, nurture plants.

whose tanned skin in summer shines
with sweat palpable and real
over lean muscles
formed through loving labor

my husband whose eyes are the dark
sky before rain and the glistening
trees after

whose eyes are those of a sea lion
an eternity deep

whose soul is molded to mine
like cupped hands dipping water

whose soul refreshes my soul
like a drink from a mountain stream

whose soul goes with me always
running through me like a river...

in the carnival
that is life

time spins fields
of sunflowers
sweet corn
and sassafras

tilts and whirls
to form
paths where caravans travel
riding out their destiny

in the dusk,
at evenfall
in firelight's twitching flames

music echoes

scuffed boots dance
in drifting dust

raised under wheels
worn and rusted
heavy with age

when darkness swallows
the horizon
dying embers crackle
                                  spit
                         ­              spark
                                              
            ­                                            sink into
                                                            ­        stillness

stars peep through
the dark curtain
of the sky

moon follows
- radiant -

the sky is theirs
- the moon and stars -

until midnight
wanders in

bringing gravid clouds,
pregnant with life

the moon hides
stars recede
as if too shy to watch

the wind awakens

seems rhythmic
in its gasps

lightning rips the dark drape

thunder bellows

clouds
- labor relieved -

pour forth
delivering their gift

earth's lifeblood
soothes the dust

twists
cascades
down the hills
forming whirlpools

collects in streams and rivulets

that merge
with
grateful rivers

winding
to the sea

homecoming
of
the carnival
of life