Over a Long Distance
    The Port from which I set out was the port of my loneliness.
                    —Henry James

Before I found the sea,
you waved at me from the little bridge
over that little river, the Gale, all the chattering
eddying water the backdrop that claimed my voice
up the mountain road's show—torn butterfly,
blackberry and lily, while you

changed the light with a word.
Ocean water hides its turmoil, opposing
currents meet and part, too fast
along the uneven bottom.
But your charmed calm, your gaze
crossing mine—

easy to wade out over those stones, to accept
my reflection in the brilliant surface of your elegance.

Copyright © 2005 Cleopatra Mathis All rights reserved
from Blues for Bill: A Tribute to William Matthews
The University of Akron Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission