Have you forgotten the painted tractor
that sits atop the hill
the rush of pushing through
rustling pampas
when the land you stood on was yours

Where the day was won
before one
and the sun was a horse with wings
when night
was where the monsters lived
before they moved in next door

How a fence presented
irresistible challenge
a mélange of invite and dare
so we climbed
to find our golden goose
and handled it with care

fine gold horizons
to destinations unknown
all is just as is

23 August 2021

Days of summer heated, change to a darkening crisper fall.
Life hardens, coils, preparing for the resting-rusting, of winter.
Uncertain. a chick-a-dee flutters nearby, astride berry-laden branches.
Winter snows, will soon burden it's call.

One lone black squirrel, stands squatting on it's edge.
Nose buried in an oddly brown fur tail, it's own.
Remnants of scaled snake skin, hold drops of this morning's rain.
A few old dry brown twigs, hang broken, thorny-brown leafed hedges.

Hints of dampness twist in the mild winds from the south,
Truth of illusion marks a yellow, uneven, fading, distant, horizon.
Somewhere, a tenor beagle howls, mournfully, to emptiness.
Young girls, moving together, striate their celebrations of youth.

There is an ache in my hips and neck this morning.
Heart wane filled, wistful.
Melancholy of dog days on unhealed roads twisting,
Memory of times, long past, fistfuls,
I never can restart, mourning.

I stand beside that long open road, neverland of lost dreams.
Fruit-bare search for meaning. Nature's transitions and streams.

and everytime i come to you,
everytime i listen to your hurt or your joy,
to your brightest ideas or your worsts,
and everytime i let you bring me closer and make me small in your arms,
every single time,
it's because i chose
to keep on loving you.

Do you ever imagine
      you've lived this day
long ago

only under the beveled glass of a dream,
and now,

you're just going through

      the motions using muscle memory?