This is for You

This is for you, the girl on the tractor

sweating in the Montana sun, dreaming

of soft Parisian twilight, strolling down

The Champs-Elyseé , basking in the shadows

of the Museé de Beaux Artes.

This is for you, on your sixty-eighth birthday

counting the growth rings on the tree of life,

yearning for the soothing salve of the Rogue River,

crystal water running through your veins, seeping

purity into the soul’s solitude.

This is for you, the war-weary soldier

seeking solace from a surfeit of ravage,

scavenging through rubble of mosque-mania,

weeping for the massacred children,

questioning sacred duty under the guise of freedom.

These words are for you, and you and you,

Thirsting for nostalgia, simplicity; shunning

Complexity and derivation, reaching for clarity

Of thought, embracing beauty for beauty’s sake,

Loving the light shining through the window.