February 1996 Greece
everyday
your stone given to me
a piece of my island home
weeps of one who said she could do
what she was not strong enough to do
in her death a smile across her face
to me on my own at sea.
February 2026 USA
near the end of my day,
and here you are.
it doesn’t get any better for me, then standing on lake superior,
on huron bay, alone, in the dead of winter, on the shoreline.
looking north, at the abbaye peninsula,
into the dim frozen light.
i am listening to sounds,
the sounds of my environs.
floating sheets of pack-ice touching, 100-500-1000 ice cymbals chiming,
chiming at intervals, and chiming all at once, with every surge.
under my feet a wave booms-thunders-thud,
in its cavern inside the shore’s ice bank.
a calling in my mind, love, not forgotten, hunting, haunting me, music only
huron bay can produce before arctic air turns the bay into a glacier once more.
a tomb,
a sealed living tomb.
chime-boom-thunder-thud, chime-boom-thunder-thud,
chime-boom-thunder-thud, chime-boom-thunder-thud....
it would be easy to become disorientated,
slip and fall.
i pull my wool cap snug, over my ears, close tight my eyes, no matter,
there you are, again, standing with me, my beautiful Babushka.
our arms intertwine, your warmth flows into me,
you’ll live inside of me, as long as i live.
our hands join, you scratch my palm,
with your middle finger teasing me.
έχεις κρατήσει την αγάπη μας ασφαλή,
you have held our love safe.
ναι, όλα όσα ήθελες για εκείνη.
yes, all that you had wanted for her.
i’m so sorry, i have lost touch with the language, i have forgotten, the sound,
your voice, the brilliance of your laugh, your name day, the time we lost.
another spray of lake water hits, i open my eyes,
a cold sweat soaking into my skin.
you’re back in my dreams,
dreaming your dream, in my dream.
only now, i only have, your stone,
our dream, to remember you by.
Sisi