Where have you been?

Where have you been?

Had you forgotten me!

 

I feared you went where

fragrant scent

is lost on dewy ground.

I feared you lost.

I feared you gone.

I feared you would not come.

I feared the days

sun up, sun down

would never bring you home.

 

I looked for you, when out on walks.

I searched and searched in vain

You were not near,

you were not there,

you where gone far away.

 

At night I heard you on the wind.

The chimney spoke to me

of sand and rock

of snow and ice

of strange and

wondrous things.

 

I dreamt the rhythm of a wheel.

that clicked on a rails of steel.

I dreamt of you on camel backs

the rolling gait I feel.

I  heard strange sounds,

I heard strange words.

I heard the calls to prayer.

 

I felt the rasp of history.

I felt the pain of time.

I felt the loneliness of grief.

I knew these pains were mine.

 

I knew that time was slipping by.

I knew you would not come.

I knew that you were far away,

perhaps, like others gone.

 

But all at once I felt faint hope.

I felt you in the air.

I felt the warmth

of love come home

and knew that you were near.

 

 

David Garlick, Sidney, April, 2008