39

ascending the totem pole

looking down now

as it was when

your hair was long and blonde

when lean women, sun-browned and

wild, walked their long, slow arc

atop dolerite walls beyond

the endless pillar

that strange, aching work of an angry sea

but ascension was never the problem

was it?

ascending the totem pole

then

because no hardman had yet

was easy

climbing, weightless

reaching across, shifting balance

lifting your body

only that

higher – forever

“climbing… that was a young man’s game”

you said - years later, near a piano, in another world

softly, and not a word more of it

but instead

a song, weightless

reaching across, shifting 

lifting your voice

only that

higher

ascending

looking down now

as it was when

forever