If I ever smoked
I would have been smoking then…
Sitting on the curb,
Newly scuffed Fry boots
Resting on the pavement seam
Where the asphalt didn’t quiet cover the
Parquetted bricks.
Where there cobbles below?
Helixes of tobacco smoke drifting
Skyward
Not so sacredly.
And later the glowing butt
Gently burns the fingertips.
At the distant corner
Mongrels cross sniffing in the gutter.
I raise my head and offer a dry whistle
As they scurry just ahead of a
Streetcar sparking to a stop.
I reel back my reality
Just a bit
And count the bills folded and tucked
Into the cellophane of the pack of smokes;
Three dollars
And three fags left
Between now and the Denver dawn.
I am thinking that someday
You will find your way
To my way of thinking.
I understand you are thinking the same for me?
Perhaps someday we will meet
In that pleasant morning meadow
That lies somewhere in between?
The squirrels are working
They play so casually and fluid,
Trunk to branch to stem
Nipping leaves at the twig
Loosing green walnuts
In a random cascade
to the earth below
These green gifts
Dropping like flakes and meteors
Falling to rise again
Passing through space and time,
Perhaps a prelude to winter?
The unspooling of the seasons,
Maybe a kind reminder
That these are cherished moments
Rich and slow
With light still high in the sky,
Warm on bare shoulders,
No need to shrug and cover, yet.
Seeds and nuts are gathered and planted
So sensibly and easily
They do the right things,
So it seems.
I wonder what I have planted in the human way:
A word, a kindness, a kiss?
What have I brought down
And then raised up again?
I watch and wait
And wonder upwards
For the messages that are sent.
I have known you since the time of dragons,
When you quested after them
Brave and barefoot.
You were unsullied, elfin
A child with an old soul.
Some say that dragons are sages
And that they offer wisdom for those who seek it
Others say that they are evil, devils
And so must be confronted and conquered.
Perhaps they could be these things…
And complicated, they could be more.
They are like the choices that we all face
So it seems:
To learn how to gain wisdom and peace
While confronting the devils in our paths.
I have faith in you Aidan
In your strength, your wit, and your beauty
Which will serve you well
In these,
The time of dragons.
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