Standing Watch

A valley holds a lot of space, holds meadows and mountains, too.
It has a wisdom all its own, as it quietly moves through the seasons of time.
Standing at its edge seems to temper its magnitude and awe, that have seen
their weight in sky, gods and stars.

And so time passes its shadows across the clouds and lands,
witness to our passage through this measure of life that is briefly ours.
Standing watch at opposite sides of the globe, our steps echo only to silence's call.
The distance so wide, from your mountains to mine, from your voice to my dreams.

There was a time when the distance between our paths was measurable and held some spark
of both delight and learning, before distant shores called you home and I found a home of my own.
A bond of culture and history made us friends, with me eager to learn more.
The distance did not vanquish you from the visits you made to my imagination's dreams at night.

Standing watch still after all these years,with many a poem and story shared on its trail
between your shores and mine, a source of pride in a book of poems that now bears your name.
A valley holds a lot of space, holds meadows and mountains ,too.
It has a wisdom all its own, as it quietly moves through the seasons of time.

Times wears like dust off the desert's stones, and we do not notice it wears off us, too.
I hear you walk still and hear your voice in my dreams, where time can both stand still
and reverse its chime, while in the waking hours it is becoming clear to me,
time has, in the end, its way with us all. 


Trudi Ralston.
October 3rd, 2016.
For Driss Ouaouicha.