she
walks through crackling
fall-just-about-turning-winter
wind
eddies dancing leaves into little paths
the
great wolf howls at rings
around
a stubborn moon
who
refuses to give in to clouds
no
dam can hold Old Man River
we
sung danced prayed
and listened
to
watery fingers plying at shoved stones
craving
those soft strikes of drums
to
take back into its surge and purge
land
which knew its name
Old
Chief slumps a little more
but
come sundown moon up
you
see his cheeks chiseled by Universal tears
and
know how mighty his influence is felt
in
slumbering hills and flat-faced land to follow
this
is home away from chaos and certain calamities
and
I who know why coyotes crack
stillness
in
assured staccato speaking that someone would follow
if
it were time to walk towards that moonlight
and
where calves moan their abrupt agony
at
being torn from their mothers
where
horses gallop full speed in front of storms
where
women hide their bundle of burdens
beneath
stones they have placed in cairns
where
rivers are driven to seek their own home
where
season strip her bare then adorn her in a new beauty
where
I come to sweat beneath falling skies
praying
for vision and strength to step further
she
steps into moon-rain and her heart
thunders
bares
her blue breasts raises her wrinkled
face
lets
stars stun her into her new knowing
this
is all home we are kin to water and
earth
we
are daughters of divine clarity we
climb great mountains
leave
our footprints in shale where she
tucks treasures
of
memories that kept her here she weeps
a woman's tears
raises
her arms to gather the many gray horses
leaping
from the chin of his face to fly to
that place
where
sweetgrass and sage whisper old stories
about
how she knew to soar
©Carol
Desjarlais 11.9.18
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