LANDSCAPE

It is brisk-walk-clear-head time of the morning.

The sun: ringed in haze.

The breeze: tangible.

The earth: gray leaning green.

My steps are quick. Thoughts, quicker.

Writing in my head.

Hawks circle and chase, black against blue.

Fickle finch flutters from nobby branch to soon-to-bud bough.

 

Neighboring homes - windows shut, doors closed -  tell of children off at school, and winter still expected.

She passes. Slows her van, and waves.

I shout. Run to catch up.

Meant to call her last week and say, "It's way past time for our seasonal lunch!"

 

A personal invitation will be so much nicer.

She looks tired. I don't see shaken.

Her smile is bright. I don't see strained.

She asks my story. Kids. Colleges? Sports. Jobs?  Three minutes of info, then I inquire about her.

I see hesitation.

Words are spoken. I hear all of them.

I remember four.

Pet. Scan. Stage. Four.

I am grateful for sunglasses. I will not cry in front of this just-celebrated-eighty-years-magnificent woman.

She is Pioneer. Educator. Wife. Cyclist. Warrior. Mom. Builder. Activist. Friend. Grandmother. Humorist.

 

Tribal Elder.

 

Unique. Extraordinary.

Irreplaceable.

Lunch will wait. For Test Results. Plans. Protocol.

She waves goodbye.

My steps are quick. Tears, quicker.

Grappling in my heart.

Farmland ahead is dark, crumpled, piled. 

Cracked cans and bottles, plastic bags, scattered deer carcass, punctured balls and faded pucks litter the side of the road.

Highway -miles away - drones.

Fleas, too soon annoying, dart in the haze of the sun.

I want to shout.

But I don't want to run 

or catch up

to heartache, experience, life,

too few seasons away.

I turn, heading home. Search for a different landscape than that which I just crossed.

The landscape of hope.

Of spring.

Of life.

The landscape I viewed before the van slowed.

It is there. 

In Sun. Breeze. Earth.

And Irreplaceable Woman.

Must write that in my head, and tuck it in my heart.

QUING Hereby Decrees:  The time, most precious, is the time we give one another.