I. 16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhDq0fMOUy
Desert heat, high clouds, and sky16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wH7IkDqP3
the color of lapis. On this journey,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMPQFcsdS7
anything seems possible,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuYQfX4C1g
so we stop by an ancient cottonwood16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJHRwBS6uT
to kiss. The beauty trembles,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9Ure7Pob6
doesn't say a word, just watches16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuf336mP4e
me, so open. Small birds fly by, flock16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVu7Vdwn4t
in the shady tree above us. What16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC55nEIn5qW
settles in her heart? What congeals?16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuWTjp2hme
Hope? Despair? Far off, the river churns16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNcG7n1uuVw
in its sandy banks, swallows veer, turn16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgApDAjMN5
in fiery air. Will these kisses seal16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIitvdx5fAn
her to me? I her lover, she my wife?16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYaP0Hr1Lq
Is all of this a dream, my whole life?
II. 16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCH4fhMjjNT
She is just this side of wonderful,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wLmK1sxkd
and suddenly the glamorous world16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4m4J8Whv2k
fills itself with shining and we laugh16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3KYpnqQh8
at highway monuments that explain16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxekZ1u6Do
how hard the trek had been for Franciscans16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXi0fbuHrwf
in the Indian wilderness, poor fellows—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAV3vBy0vQE
conversion is the devil's own16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndS0W5BCwl
work! Then the stones of her dream16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAYSVbfSyf
turn up under her feet, the back16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXuTs8OJeVR
of a huge land turtle. I know16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59EVTbkZ13
we must be circling Paradise16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHopifVDqp9
because the ants enter the fleshy petals16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSYfzfgQQN
of the roadside flowers with evident16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0wZ7FrTKG
joy and purpose (oh, my dark, pretty one).
III. 16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4yALz0hh0
Music, my adored. When is there never16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OsNyJA19b
music? My accordion puffs up16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUtkneyupr
with drinkable melodies. I spill16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzHaM4Z2YA
her tunes into your listening ear,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYUTI1Wl4z
one after the other: the squeeze-box16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NCfmqnAHt
enters the dance of the plaintive gypsy16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7eZQhwFAqr
with its hard rhythms, lilts the back-16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Pnzc3gF9Z
breaking labor song the worker croons16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMur0R0t6w
to earth, warbles romantic notes of16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYV6jyO78I4
dissolving borders. You melt16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lH4xLyxdj
like a woman beneath her lover's touch.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsSil2ybnI
Music is happy and pitiless when16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk28NBnr4ON
it sets fire to combustible souls. Even16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTKxiTodxC
the raspy bandoneon's voice is lyric.
IV. 16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6tAYrlvKC
Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. (Speak16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdy0utQLcV
in a whisper.) We slip into this16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxXmOcqZPE
space half cognizant. The land is very16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOCb0JTTW1
large indeed: bones of the earth16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7v3lbvDJb5
worn down, though she is a living thing.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsQbfuz3J4
See how she exposes her grace? Antelopes16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCYoY9DCYD
graze on the far plain—their high,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7muk9uC3Vx
white tails—the red soil throbs16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNq4OhSwgbK
its slow heartbeat, and the blue sky16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80jGYy43Kf
clears so smartly, perfectly, like16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bu8F8vsmV
radiance. Are the ancestors near?16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dcBP3ImxW
What can we know? We decide16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV65PLeC4n3
to wander around this prairie, mistaken16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJQbo3soor
for Utes, buy commodities in little towns.
V.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OG41NBGru
Late afternoon we head west along the willow- banked16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtik8rIRG3U
Malheur after the long curve of the Snake River plain. (Above the falls where the Shoshone went to pray16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNiDsaXAus
we soaked our feet in cold water, and I observed16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlnyOXeFTw
the arch of her brown foot.) Rabbitbrush and sage16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvpkojDSQs
along the highway, juniper on far hills and bluffs.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHfjwzlEVa
Sundown, and dusk falls over the wide basin of land.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3YWguzppY
In Burns we eat eggs in a cafe, take a room16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHD6vEVuEke
in the Motel 6. In the dark, I can see16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEILw65ttM
her black hair, black against the pillows. Its clean16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUUeTXkllg
scent makes me think of corn. At dawn, I hold her16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeCaJu8N5Q
and there are kisses. Then more kisses. Then more16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzvr56DZh6
The day is cold; a north wind blew last night. But16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZBKE37jwN
the land is open. Rain falls in showers of light.
VI. 16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUabMvfcsFb
Her hand on my thigh, my shoulder,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NvpwPR38U
in my hair. She leans over to kiss my cheek.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsx8xc0g6ff
We look at each other, smile. For miles16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0ui0oNych
we travel this way, nearly silent, point16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT84YnhGfRl
with eyes or chins at the circling hawk, the king-16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYeEJSuFcR
fisher on the snag above the swollen16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjpl0o12iu
creek. One night I weep in her arms16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYnTY1icgd
as she cries, "Oh, oh, oh!" because I have touched16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK77l2lir8
her scars lightly: throat, belly, breasts.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6jnRNIhiU
In that communion of lovers, thick sobs16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEiRheH8yd
break from me as I think of my love16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWLGQXU3jb
back home, all that I have done16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnzScNeFrD
and cannot say. This is the first time16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhXd753OR2
I have left her so completely, so alone.
- Janice Gould
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ju7N2Huzx
