WHITE FAIRY LANTERN
Passing through a grove
of sugar pines
you hung your head out,
demure among the greenscape,
nodding, and I noticed.
A silken dress
shimmering in the sun
hiding your style.
I could use your gentle presence,
your illumination
uphill on the black talus
and jutting arêtes.
If only you could lead the way,
unharmed to the end of the trail
into the snowfields
where only birds travel
to hunt insects in the melting glacier.
I could stop here
in this alpine field beside the cascade
in your radiance,
pleased.
But twin pyramids lay before us
and for some ancient cause
I’ll leave this paradise
to suffer on their dark faces.
Wait here for me,
and if I don’t return by nightfall
shine your light
a beam to follow from the glacier
down to you dear,
my one in the meadow.