I drove up to the mountains tonight
to seek cooler winds, and calmer
Arid air and thirsty pine
my lover and companion
Yellow earth and pastel sky
and wind at last, the wind
in long and personal embraces
without the fear of hurting
There is a song up here
it’s heard sometimes when
all but love has faded
when calmer winds
have laid to rest
the anguish of the chase
It’s what she sings
my mother Earth
so I came back to her
in stillness and in splendor
and asked her quietly
I had to know
what would she have me do
As usual she sighs and sighs
pretending not to hear
she bends her trunks
in evening wind
and thinks of nothing much
but song
I ask again
what would she have me do
and then she sighs again
this time with purpose
with laughter, or in anger
You know to ask
she says
you know to answer, too.
No, I say, I beg you
I need your true advice
I am a thief of dreams
and fraught with love
what would you have me do?
You come to me,
she says,
you ask again for blessing?
I ache with love, I say,
a thief within her castle
what would you have me do?
Again she chooses not to hear
though wind and fir confer
like jurors
What would you have me do,
I beg again
but nothing now will gain her ear
her trusted knights deciding
They brought my lover
to the stand
her tear an ample answer
They brought her true love
to the stand
his fist an ample answer
They brought my teacher
to the stand
his sigh an ample answer
They brought my wishes
to the stand
their lust an ample answer
I brought no voice
to my defense
instead I tried, this one last time,
please, what would you have me do
This time she chose to hear
and speaks:
You, who are thrice blessed
she says
how dare you steal
under the cover of night
into her splendid castle
You, who are thrice blessed
she says,
how dare you
injure her hopes
and his
You who are thrice blessed
she says,
the son of my beloved
you no longer hold yourself
as would a true son of mine
For my son, she says,
and fir and wind concur,
is no thief of hearts,
is no breaker of promises,
is no robber of love
And he would never come to me
to beg me mend again his heart
rent by none but himself
Then she said no more,
though I pleaded
The setting sun becalms the wind
only tree tops shine now
and then I know,
though hard bear,
what she would have me do
And so
all through my heart
I let her go
