Thursday, January 8, 2015

Journey

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.
I awakened this morning at home
Or so I thought
Not this home,
But one from long ago, on the land where I was born
Where my people have lived for ten thousand years and more

Climate change is speeding up
In the space of one day, we have gone
From below zero to 49 degrees.

And so last night, we had fog
In January
Something I would have thought impossible here
At 7,500 feet, 
At the foot of mountains that dwarf those tiny hills of my childhood

Fog, and an east wind
And overnight, it crystallized
Tiny geometric fragments, perfect in design
White-hot ice
Closed around every branch, every leaf, every blade of dormant grass

At home, this would be spring
April
The catkins as fuzzy with snow-like crystals as with their own gentle covers
The branches weighted and freighted, white over silver gray
The willow by our old pond, the one where I was not allowed to play
Drooping, dropping, dripping, draping its ice-heavy branches 
Gracefully over the surface of the earth
Like a frosted blanket

But no
This is here
And the fog has turned the high desert mountains into 
My old home
Just for a day, a dawn

And like that child I was
I play in it,
Transported
Until my fingers turn to ice like the willow's gentle arms

A journey in time
In space
In season
In distance

Magic





Copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

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