i look at you & you remind me of all the
mountains
i haven't seen or embraced
& since you are like every one of us
you rise out of my heart
with the craggy serenity of kilimanjaro
enduring like prophecies
peaceful like distances
since you are like all of us
eternal like every river
even when the sea claims us
for me you carry affirmations
a sprout in the parch, a mend in the rend
water from an ancient well
& since every one of us
carries the seeds of a storm within him
since the mountains come to rest
in the breast of every one of us
beginning the long journey across the desert
since the forests & the skies & the faces of children
overflow with lessons of love
for all to learn
i will always remember you
& your face that is the end of all roads
poetry will never travel
i will remember you
when i have learned the rustle of rivers
when i have learned the inconvenient gestures of compassion
when i have learned to be infinitely present
& yet invisible like the sky
