Days in December
Riding into the sunrise

the dawn parts the mountain
to reveal the road ahead

And I think of our
conversation this morning
in the predawn hours

and of you
a path finder, a seeker,
a road builder

and I think of our ancestors
crossing these mountains
by foot or horseback

I know you've driven
this highway
many times before
and I am closer to you

Closer than the time
I nursed your child
Or was a scolding parent
to your running wild

and you holding onto
a car bumper
by your finger tips

taught me so much
about the lengths
a woman will go to
for love

It took me less than
an hour to read the pages
of your autobiography

It took you a lifetime to live it
I wanted to laugh and cry
instead I wrote this little ode
from a greyhound bus

An ode to you and me
Day broke as we reached the summit
clouds of snow illuminated tall pines
and firs reaching skyward

Nature's reverence
The sight is
breathtaking

And sister
as I think of you
I am reminded to breath

The pass appears to be
bare and dry
yet
still a little slippery

This is good for December
and women like you or me
riding out of the night

each of us going home
into the light
Life
it's all down hill
from here


pattra burnetto monroe 1994