[verse]

ENDLESS

The wet dawn

a struggle to make the hill

from weeks of walking

His lather—

crusted-over eyes

the short sleeps only

to force up, continue on.

All here was vast,

Endless—

as he recalled.

Puffing to reach the top

of the rise

he spotted the stone house

still a fair distance

the chimney smoke barely visible

A good sign, that smoke;

all in all a good sign.

This early hour

she’d be inside

dampening her hair

from the basin

knotting it tight at the neck.

How to explain the long absence;

months trickling to years.

Surely by now a new man

in charge— of her and the premises.

Squatting, he watched.

When at last the door opened

she came out alone to pitch the hay

lithe, still, under a dress

she swung that fork mightily.

This stirred him—

knees folding into high grass

contemplating what

brought a return to these parts.

Unable to answer,

if only to himself.

Some time close to noon

turning once to gaze back,

the clouds thinning out, stretching

smeared the painted sky.