Love in the Time of Cholera

Spring, 2015    
       
I      
       
You were there from the moment of birth,      
a quiet space between trees, the hidden        
pocket of air in the creek -- the outstretched        
hands within leaves. Yet, I remembered more.        
       
There were days I would sense your dimension      
opening above me; I remember rising,
as if lifted so I could float those few inches        
above this physical reality.        
       
When I was young, I believed if I was still as stone        
you would manifest in human form, believing        
I had gone; I would climb the flat rock above        
the stream and become statuesque.        
       
I'd listen for the music of your descent, not flinching        
when the centipede and earwig rooted my limbs.
There was only Time keeping time with the ascending bats
keeping time with the lost crusade of a carpenter ant.        
       
Time kept time for the faeries to wait for my absence;
It kept time for Blue Ghost Fireflies to become streetlamps;  
kept time for my mother calling from a distance;  
kept time for the evening routine of bath and obeisance.        
       
II.      
       
Time kept time through my adolescence;
through burgeoning mood swings
and menstrual cramps; it kept time for high school
and college; it kept time for academics and drop outs.        
       
Time kept time for marriage and motherhood;
for the death of parents and loved ones. It kept      
time for an amicable divorce, and spiritual
sabbaticals of music, words, and art.        
       
Time kept time through loss of jobs and it kept        
time through employment lines. Time kept time        
through the loss of homes and it kept time through        
homelessness.        
       
Time kept time through bolted doors and time kept      
time for joy; time kept time for abundance restored        
and time was its own reward.        
       
III.      
       
Now I've returned to the forest tree, to the place      
that was before me; time has become my circle      
and time has become these words;        
       
Time has become the silence and time has        
become the noise; time has become the older      
woman statuesque upon the rocks;      
       
Time has become the umbilical cord holding      
me to this earth; time has bound my fated      
course and time has summoned the muse;        
       
Time has driven carriages and time has paddled      
boats; Time has timed my destiny and revealed      
itself as Love.        
       
Be I a drifter upon your coast; become I your friend        
for life, Love waited to bestow these elusive gifts,        
when Love knew the timing was right.        
       
~