COLLABORATIVE POETRY 6: A VALEDICTION

A VALEDICTION

And you on the edge of the field, I bow to you/ all in shadow, your patience outlasting us all--- "Salutations", Luisa A. Igloria*



All that it takes to remember that I am still with you
is this morning’s sun, glaring from a clear blue sky,

and I have never absconded, never left your side
even when I found myself at the edge of the field

merely a part of your life’s curious appurtenances,
someone you’d remember when the muezzin calls

from his minaret, or angelus intones from emporia
microphones, or when the dry season lends penitence

its hauteur from random worshippers of a crucifixion
forgotten in the hill of skulls, a mocking flagellation.

I will be there when litanies of pain fill your evenings,
I will be there when you lose all faith in love or dreams.

At the edge of the field, I will be there, waiting for you
in the shadows, until you finally stop running away .

—Albert B. Casuga

Poetic Prompt:  *Posted 04-14-11 in Via Negativa http://www.vianegativa.us/ by Dave Bonta as a response to Morning Porch, http://www.morningporch.com/