When I think of you my heart swells
Turning to the sun
I find refuge resting my head on your
Shoulder
Your arm strong and gentle
Around me
Leaning against your old white shirt,
Never ironed
Soft
Torn at the tail by scrub oak
On some wild ride to Laguna
Its single pocket stained black by a leaking pen,
Always there for me to borrow
Collar turned up framing your face
Golden and deeply lined
Like the streaked arroyos after rain
Resolve deepening with time
Like the hardened ponderosa snags
That stand as totem sculptures
Between the living trees
Setting sun draws broad strokes
Of pink across the horizon
Feather clouds against robin’s egg blue sky
You are the place I call home
-Tsultrim Allione, Valentine’s Day 2005