I. 5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHVOwmxxJX
Desert heat, high clouds, and sky5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfz0mo48uu
the color of lapis. On this journey,5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiawHNfCk2k
anything seems possible,5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5Q0YzU3C0
so we stop by an ancient cottonwood5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCIMP7vTdXm
to kiss. The beauty trembles,5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡca6GQwtE4P
doesn't say a word, just watches5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Md6QEozKj
me, so open. Small birds fly by, flock5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfrDBID6Pw
in the shady tree above us. What5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCb9KDwTJ5p
settles in her heart? What congeals?5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErLtuLHmLv
Hope? Despair? Far off, the river churns5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdUDbykorR
in its sandy banks, swallows veer, turn5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrs95WhbOr
in fiery air. Will these kisses seal5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2X9KhrrOj
her to me? I her lover, she my wife?5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaR47ZzDQsj
Is all of this a dream, my whole life?
II. 5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJB0opo34y
She is just this side of wonderful,5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Wl1WcTwLj
and suddenly the glamorous world5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CPrF5vHpw
fills itself with shining and we laugh5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIb3HB6cnP
at highway monuments that explain5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayPtEcmwlm
how hard the trek had been for Franciscans5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKP8hP0BZT
in the Indian wilderness, poor fellows—5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjWUPM1Hpm
conversion is the devil's own5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9MiR2miXN
work! Then the stones of her dream5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGI3yqf7zYc
turn up under her feet, the back5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9b84UdBPtK
of a huge land turtle. I know5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbThUTlB6i
we must be circling Paradise5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyiucQe4oF
because the ants enter the fleshy petals5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjo54xHPkio
of the roadside flowers with evident5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡval9VTSk38
joy and purpose (oh, my dark, pretty one).
III. 5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ySaTEmJdg
Music, my adored. When is there never5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1DkFplOTy
music? My accordion puffs up5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJKoTU8yyh
with drinkable melodies. I spill5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyhJdam7gI
her tunes into your listening ear,5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnA9080sjck
one after the other: the squeeze-box5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkT5D1MbNRy
enters the dance of the plaintive gypsy5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZf0fvYUJx
with its hard rhythms, lilts the back-5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8gPBGka9Z
breaking labor song the worker croons5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHw2hBlNa3X
to earth, warbles romantic notes of5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgpsJxlYAx
dissolving borders. You melt5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTU8gVS5xF
like a woman beneath her lover's touch.5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4hjsXmd19
Music is happy and pitiless when5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCB0TA0LWFo
it sets fire to combustible souls. Even5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GIqtyEG3B
the raspy bandoneon's voice is lyric.
IV. 5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpoC5pyhZt
Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. (Speak5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffJrNab6YG
in a whisper.) We slip into this5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhrlIb0q2k
space half cognizant. The land is very5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jfVYsEgNv
large indeed: bones of the earth5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3mxBG8osR
worn down, though she is a living thing.5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFBft18rGe
See how she exposes her grace? Antelopes5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQgo8ye7qz
graze on the far plain—their high,5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6UJkfesF4
white tails—the red soil throbs5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ObXCWkbfL
its slow heartbeat, and the blue sky5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtw0ft4HpIt
clears so smartly, perfectly, like5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetXijH5AkJ
radiance. Are the ancestors near?5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡey9Wr2oWtm
What can we know? We decide5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LuCzFdIJN
to wander around this prairie, mistaken5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpef0ITEBRt
for Utes, buy commodities in little towns.
V.5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPAOjtdNVc
Late afternoon we head west along the willow- banked5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGAQKf3r90
Malheur after the long curve of the Snake River plain. (Above the falls where the Shoshone went to pray5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5eBzP2kXO
we soaked our feet in cold water, and I observed5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdV9yZw4at
the arch of her brown foot.) Rabbitbrush and sage5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2vx5viIYi2
along the highway, juniper on far hills and bluffs.5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQMFsr2zGm
Sundown, and dusk falls over the wide basin of land.5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRqNrxkWgJ
In Burns we eat eggs in a cafe, take a room5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfXu0R3lkw
in the Motel 6. In the dark, I can see5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvczGz6iwim
her black hair, black against the pillows. Its clean5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONHvh1D1DR
scent makes me think of corn. At dawn, I hold her5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoiPPG43PZ
and there are kisses. Then more kisses. Then more5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEu3fx9i7JO
The day is cold; a north wind blew last night. But5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdMAl5Zy0b
the land is open. Rain falls in showers of light.
VI. 5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VzeyXeEng
Her hand on my thigh, my shoulder,5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXKlY6ZhF5
in my hair. She leans over to kiss my cheek.5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmyTyoiz1xr
We look at each other, smile. For miles5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1AgoaExBSZ
we travel this way, nearly silent, point5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGesd76Fr3E
with eyes or chins at the circling hawk, the king-5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡis8qeoKwFb
fisher on the snag above the swollen5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRzWCoIyMb
creek. One night I weep in her arms5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjG3Qg0XY4
as she cries, "Oh, oh, oh!" because I have touched5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWXybb3hhc
her scars lightly: throat, belly, breasts.5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA4FXejlMPZ
In that communion of lovers, thick sobs5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0R1RkyHigA
break from me as I think of my love5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyC2si9r38
back home, all that I have done5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bbMxxiMAq
and cannot say. This is the first time5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ks6nkosVC
I have left her so completely, so alone.
- Janice Gould
5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJ3Qo2iRoR
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