Sonoma

For Mark

It was here amidst the jade vale and a sea bound river
I was found.
Here where ancient Gravenstien orchards yield to youthful
Chardonnay vinyards.
Here where sequoias, acacias and oaks
meander along a quiet horizon.
Here where the North Coast savannah
spills into the sea.

My heart was like that savannah in summer.
yellowing in the unslaked heat,
tinder dry oak chapparal, barren and burnt.
Left blackened by carless stewards
who chose the match over water.

I resolve in my oaken solitude,
That this,
this at last is the future that awaits.
A quiet, acornless autumn and winter season.
I am content with my aloneness.
Peace at last finds me.

In your art I find solace.
Your music that gripped my young heart,
still calls.
Beckons. Beseeches.
Come dance.
And I do.
And you are there.

You are there,
with eyes the color of sky.
You are there as you have always been.
Alive in my heart,
my unspoken love.
My fondest hope.

You who I loved like a dream.
You who I loved before I knew you.
You who I loved when you came to me,
one promise too late.

You stand before me.
You tremble in my arms as we
waltz.
You fix me with a gaze
and at last I know.
Your love matches mine,
and always has.

My savannah is green now.
Verdant from the healing
showers of your love.
Daffodils and Hyacinth bloom
in a late North Coast winter.
You my thoughtful gardner borne here by some cosmic
caretaker, you tend me well.

I can't help but think,
your love is like those Sonoma sequoias.
An evergreen, ageless wonder that sweeps me heavenward.
Lifting me from my earthbound perdition.
I soar into a sky
the color of your eyes.
Swept to a zenith from which I will never descend.
A rarified stratosphere that is our
love.