I posted part of this a few days ago. It’s the first new poem I have written in awhile as I wait for my well to replenish. This is the completed first part of the piece. I have tried writing 1 or 2 more sections to this, but they are coming across as forced, contrite, and quite frankly give way too much away – thus violating one of the rules of poetry. Show and guide the reader, but let them find their own path and meaning.
Here it is:
I have been walking for years
Searching for one picture
Of the face turned away from me
Only a wisp and a shadow of your profile.
I have no memory or recollection
of your eyes, or your voice.
I only have the dark outline
and billowing dress as you
stand above the raging waters.
I step carefully, and follow
a peculiar path as someone
has passed before me.
Decades before I arrived here
I made a vow and that vow
became my only thought, my only purpose
to learn again, to find, to remember.
I asked a medicine man what can be done
how do I find you again.
I have been walking in the valley
of fragmented dreams for years.
So much time has passed I forgot
how many times I have fractured,
the glassmaker has become my sponsor.
The medicine man imparted these words
before transforming into a raven
and vanishing from this space:
Stop thinking.
Know.
Forced thinking, what you seek dissapears.
Beyond the mountain the valleys
are deep and wide.
Going into them blind, distracted
thinking, will consume you.
Instead enter the gate and immediately stop.
See your arms outstretched.
Welcome the valley to you.
As you have come here.
See with eyes closed.
Touch with arms at your side.
Breath deeply the lushness
and direction of the wind.
Now, search for what you have lost.
I feel to my knees into
a small stream of cold water.
Clear and nearly stationary
I raised my cupped hands
and cleansed my tired, worn face
wash years of continuous searching away.
Until the water settled again
and a smooth surface reappeared
I did not notice what surrounded
and protected the space I was within.
