THE SHADOW - OF LOSS

A town
A small space of earth
Lives layered like sedimentary rock
Rich sandstone stripes of remembrance and vision
Here we were together, here we grew
We lived, we laughed, we loved
A town
A small space of earth
A name

In the dark of this new winter dawn
Through a mist of tears
I shuffle my towns like laminated dreams
Laying their bright names across my knees

WellsvilleWoodbridge
AttleboroAshlandOccoquan
LosAngelesLeadvilleLeetownLamoineLogan
CedarCitySilverSpring

They sing like crystal chimes
In a clear high mountain wind
Each name is precious
Each full of meaning, memory, marrow

One is the birth of red rock desert hills
Spiced with cedar and sage
Another is forever in a thousand shades of green
Sweet with pine and stars
One brought me my hearts desire
Amidst the rolling mist of a sea washed shore
One taught me to walk in beauty
Inside the sacred circle of the Rockies Wasatch wheel

In the dark of this dawn
Through a mist of tears
I know that the world is made of this:
Not huge cosmic concepts or prodigious precepts
But these small private places of the heart

Meaning, memory, marrow
Lives layered like sedimentary rock
Rich sandstone stripes of remembrance and vision
Where we grew, we lived, we laughed, we loved
A small space of earth
A town
A name

And I hear the shadows whisper
Among the crystal chimes . . .
Anatevka
Darfur
Fallujah


©Edwina Peterson Cross
November, 2004