Standing in the morning sun with her in my arms, in the green grass beneath the peach tree in her front yard. The tree is loaded down with soft, ripe, sweet peaches. The air smells of them. The sun is warm on my skin, her skin is tan and warm to the touch. Her long brunette hair falls down past her shoulders in ringlets. Her eyes are amber, caramel in the light. Her lashes flutter and our mouths meet. We dance our tongues around one another's. I feel the curves of her body with my hands and we embrace tightly. Everything stops. Everything is still. Time has disappeared and there is no one and no thing in the world but me and her and this kiss.
Driving home from work along the dirt road that winds through the canyon. The moon is epically bright and radiant. I listen to music as I rumble along in 4 wheel drive and navigate the truck through the forested and animated night. I approach a gate and stop to open it. The sound of the rock music from my truck fades and the headlamps of the truck shoot cones of light out onto the road in front of me. I open the gate and drive the truck through, returning on foot to close it. I open the door of the truck and extinguish the headlights, close the door and stand on the roadside looking off into the distance. A well-maintained wire fence follows the road, wooden posts pushed into the ground and a crown of barbed wire running the length of the divider. On the opposite side a yawning meadow stretches for hundreds of yards and is softly lit by pulsing rays of moonlight. As my eyes adjust forms of deer appear scattered in the meadow, two here, three there, four in the distance, clustered and solitary they garnish the field with their white tails reflecting moonlight and their eyes suspicious and wary of me. They soon lose interest and drop their heads to continue grazing. I become cognizant of my breath, the in/out in/out in/out...the rise and fall of my chest, the steady thumping of my heart. Beyond the moonlit meadow low hills are stacked against the horizon displaying a darker shade of night. Higher still, on a high shelf of earth stand still taller mountains, their haunches rising and falling against a canvas of star-speckled sky. Shadows of trees are cast upon grasses, shadows of clouds move across mountainsides. The moon pulses, becomes cloaked in cloud vapor and then reappears as bright as before. This all takes place in a matter of moments. Quiet moments, thoughtful moments, real-life moments...when the bustle of the day is past, when the work has been done and there is nothing left to do but be still. Moments like this raise my skin into goosebumps and the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention as if they want to gather all of it they can. The place around me, the place I have come to, the place that has called me, the place that was once and is now again home wraps her loving arms around me. I think of my father. I think of him growing up in these hills, becoming a young adult, marrying my mother, fathering my sisters and me. I recall his smile and laugh and his strong embrace. Again I cast my gaze into the heavens and I feel his spirit within me. My breath quickens and my eyes swell with moisture as I speak into the night, "I miss you Dad. I miss you."
And then in a blink the moment is gone. I re-enter the truck, click on the headlamps, shift the gearbox into drive and motor the engine home.
WOW..........
ReplyDelete