The Perfect Hollow
(For M.R.C.)
I am the wind,
And the wind must move along
According to my own path,
And whistling my own song.
But when I nestled in the hollow of your heart
Circulating in that vase like cavity,
It brought me right back
To the very start
Between your gracious curves
And the arches of your little feet
I found the perfect place to have a seat,
And as I ran my crystalized fingers
Over the smooth sandstone walls
Of your gently sloping breast
That’s when I discovered
The hollow I love best.
Each bend in the winding canyon
A fold in your orange summer dress
And under trembling cottonwood leaves
With whispers I caressed
The surface of your burbling brook,
And there inside your little nook
I found that I could happily linger,
Indeed I’ve been heard playing there
At least since last December
But now its February
And I must breeze away
Though there is no other place
Where I would rather stay,
So like the driving monsoon rain
I’ll be heading down the valley
Through alluvial arroyos
Across the rocky plain
Whistling through saguaro’s spines
Out towards the long West Texas mane,
Where I suppose I’ll try to have some fun
Slamming open barn doors
And letting nervous horses run,
Sweeping through the hills of Lobo
Through long abandoned ranches,
Knocking pecans down
From off their crooked branches,
Kicking tumbleweeds and lifting dusty devils
Spinning rusty windmills
And letting lonesome ravens
Fall across my shoulder
But I will be pained too
And over distant moors
I will keen, and weep, and wail,
And over northern seas propel
The sailor’s well-hemmed sail,
And as I cut across a cold Atlantic crest
I will recall the warmth of your gentle canyon,
The only place where I could rest.
Eventually I must return
When the Coriolis effect
Brings be South and West
And I will know I’m home
When a red tail hawk
Sails across my sun warmed chest,
Then I’ll be seeking, ever seeking,
That perfect hollow,
Where even the wind felt at home.
And if it is nowhere to be found
And eludes sight, and touch, and sound,
I will begin to carve it into the ground
And over millennia I will shape
That lovely sandstone canyon once again
For the wind is forever child
And my love, it has no end.