I. 14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMJrUd3CBp
Desert heat, high clouds, and sky14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwtQl6FGFO
the color of lapis. On this journey,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaknjs3gDbk
anything seems possible,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKvMIYxzSyH
so we stop by an ancient cottonwood14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4T9iJAmV7C
to kiss. The beauty trembles,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGoyjEO1Uv2
doesn't say a word, just watches14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytROdJMoVQ
me, so open. Small birds fly by, flock14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPNKy9oiA5
in the shady tree above us. What14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVu6C8Coy3h
settles in her heart? What congeals?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7Kprqqf7Q
Hope? Despair? Far off, the river churns14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3NWk13d5U
in its sandy banks, swallows veer, turn14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfaLrnx15t
in fiery air. Will these kisses seal14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTBfHXvtew
her to me? I her lover, she my wife?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZ9MYFHiGv
Is all of this a dream, my whole life?
II. 14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6RM2RhVvD
She is just this side of wonderful,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjf5srVnII
and suddenly the glamorous world14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoY6l8TUY11
fills itself with shining and we laugh14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9zc0pH6va
at highway monuments that explain14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFptShWnChL
how hard the trek had been for Franciscans14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjEsVw3phR
in the Indian wilderness, poor fellows—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ354y6I9b5z
conversion is the devil's own14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ178kFqXRU3
work! Then the stones of her dream14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcmYnMtJDr
turn up under her feet, the back14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmtzVJJIcp
of a huge land turtle. I know14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfU79KpDGGo
we must be circling Paradise14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7oS76TngE
because the ants enter the fleshy petals14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeWnBOm13TL
of the roadside flowers with evident14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWOmKdkxI2
joy and purpose (oh, my dark, pretty one).
III. 14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP2kbeR5yGT
Music, my adored. When is there never14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWq3t9RTKO
music? My accordion puffs up14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡas70GEBdIk
with drinkable melodies. I spill14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBR1Kp1HWDY
her tunes into your listening ear,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpw98XdMqJ
one after the other: the squeeze-box14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyak1gQwor
enters the dance of the plaintive gypsy14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxg1QTCAvp0
with its hard rhythms, lilts the back-14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJusFfjbWT
breaking labor song the worker croons14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdTw32ncGC
to earth, warbles romantic notes of14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRseIsWUK3O
dissolving borders. You melt14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg874AJjnMA
like a woman beneath her lover's touch.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykITK1V4Ly
Music is happy and pitiless when14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4Xoz8yaa5
it sets fire to combustible souls. Even14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARx2PT90zH
the raspy bandoneon's voice is lyric.
IV. 14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuu18EaQqxJ
Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. (Speak14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSBbDBV5Ac
in a whisper.) We slip into this14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHt6lwm3P7n
space half cognizant. The land is very14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5hZASmnEM
large indeed: bones of the earth14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJZlQgskHG
worn down, though she is a living thing.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPRYSOCVjG
See how she exposes her grace? Antelopes14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbF3Zs5MZ8r
graze on the far plain—their high,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCK55BZSobK
white tails—the red soil throbs14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHD7f5QhapR
its slow heartbeat, and the blue sky14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoUpqQj6w2
clears so smartly, perfectly, like14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JCgFhD9QP
radiance. Are the ancestors near?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XM4oBSVih
What can we know? We decide14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZnCRXxFm9
to wander around this prairie, mistaken14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8p9AlEAeTs
for Utes, buy commodities in little towns.
V.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKnGDV2cFHO
Late afternoon we head west along the willow- banked14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcjgXeo2mP
Malheur after the long curve of the Snake River plain. (Above the falls where the Shoshone went to pray14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvHuvQvY64
we soaked our feet in cold water, and I observed14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3PZhBgS8e
the arch of her brown foot.) Rabbitbrush and sage14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9lqcDQ2gu
along the highway, juniper on far hills and bluffs.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ck2KOSReU
Sundown, and dusk falls over the wide basin of land.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQXzI3fVcM
In Burns we eat eggs in a cafe, take a room14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5f0ovv9BJC
in the Motel 6. In the dark, I can see14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnEJmWSOJq
her black hair, black against the pillows. Its clean14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsal26DUN8
scent makes me think of corn. At dawn, I hold her14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC88BEcZ4Y5
and there are kisses. Then more kisses. Then more14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSA2Af0xENG
The day is cold; a north wind blew last night. But14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQMbUkZSzU
the land is open. Rain falls in showers of light.
VI. 14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVwxVUVUW2
Her hand on my thigh, my shoulder,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeWHOP2qOj
in my hair. She leans over to kiss my cheek.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRJzY8rQx7
We look at each other, smile. For miles14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jUfrlDzUa
we travel this way, nearly silent, point14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtj31xfkabd
with eyes or chins at the circling hawk, the king-14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOnI1rnTEQ
fisher on the snag above the swollen14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8b6AGtWNR6
creek. One night I weep in her arms14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUR8WG0VPX6
as she cries, "Oh, oh, oh!" because I have touched14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DHF8IPOzM
her scars lightly: throat, belly, breasts.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8b1MVIEgYD
In that communion of lovers, thick sobs14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcIdDQpI8b
break from me as I think of my love14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBqnjRvwyK
back home, all that I have done14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYMSgCJtxNo
and cannot say. This is the first time14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbtWyjpaip
I have left her so completely, so alone.
- Janice Gould
14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TqsBDZnT4
