Autumn dreaming

 

and there were those with us, or so it seemed

fewer now than ones from long ago,
school days long gone in mists, wisps of steam,
steam travel, hither, thither, economy class
and then there were the two of us, there
and you, sitting, watching

as the train went on, solstice bound
through empty terrain, bare landscape,
though nothing beyond those windows;
it felt comfortable enough,
and we were silently, talking with

others, quietly knowing apparent
somethings in peace, this something,
if only what seemed to be
 
and leaving that carriage through stepwise groves

of dankness, lone platform arrived,
scarcely remembered save grey
walls maybe familiar, maybe not
and people, Potemkin-like statuesque mutes, as if, as if ...
and there, there, walking, I cried.

Tears came, and more, and more,
I wept for being, for being there where I could
weep in homecoming,
a quiet of quiets,
and I knew there was home here, featureless

just as I knew, this home in my heart,
heart open, body lean, empty.
immense sadness, settled friendly.

 

October 23, 2001
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