Green strength surges youthful stem
and leaf, urgent footsteps on dirt roads
in Kansas: Belay me in twilight
moaning 'neath mulberry trees, stained
among wheat field's sway, persistence,
their hiss- Winds dearly lift
ears, corn-dreamt in verdant fifing.
Braced face-first in dry-blown fragrance,
I inhale summer sun's burst and wain,
charged air upon the constancy of plains,
aching with no complaint; sun-singed pastures
sing dimpled songs-always, belonging
in boyhood flourish-traipsing fence lines,
stick in hand, switching cattle toward pens.
Indelible: My cap flies off in a gust
and Grandpa stops the pickup,
I dance ruddy-cheeked over the tailgate,
retrieve the wayward gear to hear him laugh:
'Philly Boy! ', fully-smiles the jouncing road:
I ride ancient voicings, richness lifelong-
following love, where it counsels me home.
Consort of joy, this road, His voice resounds,
stronger than wind, ebullient and deep.
I still bounce our truck bed homage,
peer past dusty vortices of memory
where in such sun-filled instants
I hold a hand above my face, just so-
small fingers laced on red cap's brim.
Phillip Michael Sawatzky
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/red-cap/
