Tall Man Gan

962

Gabrielle DiLorenzo

The rock is wide
and sparkles in the sun

The path is an ascending staircase
toward a sky of blazing blue

Trees extend
branches bend
toward absence

Something is missing
void

Quiet reigns on the tumbled hills
over the plate glass ocean
The world is waiting

Fissures in the rock crack
sun blazes on dry cactus
sky expands with the heat
of island summer

There is a stir and rustle of leaves
glistening in the grass
music in the round, resounding curve
of a mountain road
You once walked here

Breezes listen
to the distant whir of waves
their tumble and crash
erasing footprints embedded in the sand
We cannot hear you

There is a gap in the pattern of clouds
a link slipped, somewhere

You’re not with us

A torso inclined upward
hands that search for seeds
under a tree
laden with calabash bowls
a flute playing a single melodic line

The trees have missed you