I know the remorse of an aging man,
the plague of choices I might have made,
worn faces risen as ambition failed
and loneliness became my comfort.
I hear your voice from another world,
your face refreshed by dreams.
I reach out but there is no flesh,
only the essence of your fair-skinned beauty
free from mortal burden.
I’m not ready to depart,
hoping yet for the clans to gather
on horses multicolored and proud,
our long hair flowing in prairie winds.
We may by then have learned to love each other
and trust our footing through the sea of grass,
human now with the earth become our friend.
Orcas Island
June 2022
Reading of “Prairie Winds” with music composed and played by Jack Jenkins and Maryliz Smith
~ Thank You ~
Potent and beautiful! Thank you!
This poem is beautiful and achingly sad, whether considered at the personal level, or encompassing humanity as a whole. Thank you for your profound and honest expression. Ronnie
Don, what is this thing “long hair”?
Yes, the remorse still arises at times, but I also am not ready to depart. May the clans gather…
Beautiful Don! May the Clans gather!
Don: my brother in aging gracefully! Orcas has a special vibe to feed your muse. Love that island!
Given my own suddenly pithy choice to breathlessly ascend apace to the exalted Other World (i.e. “passing away”), or to yet live a while longer, “earthen of soul”, with undone work to finish – my long-lonesome yearning to deeply love and to be loved is itself ascending here and now, I sense – in Love, trust, and an utter assurance that indeed “unconquerable Life prevails!”!
My work left now is to let this soul of mine be steadily, readily gathered into the “One Clan” – proud to be unified, while multicolored with perfect individualities, and sporting long hair flowing with abundant Life still to be lived and gathered into Oneness. I call that Oneness “Heaven on Earth”!
Lovely poem Don. The line really strikes me the most is “waiting for the clans to gather.” When, oh when, will we come together as brothers and sisters on this Blue Marble floating the darkness of space?
Breathtaking
Deeply felt
Very hopeful Don…thanks!