Wind Worder
(homage to Theodore Roethke)

Sweet Sir,
master of the minimal,
to meet upon a leaf,
make tea from dew,

talk for days - you talking,
me listening finally -
not as though you were still teaching,
but mere

ly life
upon a leaf,
beneath a white stone:
a moldy earth that holds it all,

heals it all -
I, as pilgrim,
prepared for little - or much,
circling that pale stone,

you, a part of the white air,
the wormy earth,
giving,
explaining over tea

the humdrum
necessary existence - the sufficiency -
the becoming -
life

upon a yellow leaf
beneath a white stone.

bkb
used with permission