November a Year Ago

Before you knew me

I was a river stone
I was a king fisher swift from the tree branch
I was the long legs of the north fork

Before you knew me

I was a cabin
a swing
I was the sun in gnarled arms of firs

Before you knew me

I was a melancholy wind
the sadness of rain
I was a brown barefoot girl

Before you knew me

I was the sheer and silent snow
I ran from shadows
I ran away

and found a home on every street
I dreamed of

I was a mother for myself
I was tender
I gathered stories of injured women
homeless as I

Before you knew me

I came home
to the English cottage
dancing in the morning
across the kitchen floor

until I found you
dancing and singing
an image of me

and we recognized
each other

from the faint songs
still on our lips
we had been singing

all along.





for M. with all my love