Green strength surges youthful stem <br />and leaf, urgent footsteps on dirt roads <br />in Kansas: Belay me in twilight <br />moaning 'neath mulberry trees, stained <br />among wheat field's sway, persistence, <br />their hiss- Winds dearly lift <br />ears, corn-dreamt in verdant fifing. <br /> <br />Braced face-first in dry-blown fragrance, <br />I inhale summer sun's burst and wain, <br />charged air upon the constancy of plains, <br />aching with no complaint; sun-singed pastures <br />sing dimpled songs-always, belonging <br />in boyhood flourish-traipsing fence lines, <br />stick in hand, switching cattle toward pens. <br /> <br />Indelible: My cap flies off in a gust <br />and Grandpa stops the pickup, <br />I dance ruddy-cheeked over the tailgate, <br />retrieve the wayward gear to hear him laugh: <br />'Philly Boy! ', fully-smiles the jouncing road: <br />I ride ancient voicings, richness lifelong- <br />following love, where it counsels me home. <br /> <br />Consort of joy, this road, His voice resounds, <br />stronger than wind, ebullient and deep. <br />I still bounce our truck bed homage, <br />peer past dusty vortices of memory <br />where in such sun-filled instants <br />I hold a hand above my face, just so- <br />small fingers laced on red cap's brim.<br /><br />Phillip Michael Sawatzky<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/red-cap/
