Like a Spirit

…leaving the hill cellars

Pahn climbs to the ridge        where

he can look down on the valley

and is met there by Ahdahn

who speaks to him

in friendly

but inherent condescension

 

At a fork in the trail

                                              Pahn

chooses the one that descends

to the wild side           into the canyon

  

 The winter pastures are barren

with the soil soft

and saturated below

a veneer

of fine gravel 

As he nears the stream

at the bottom                                       

the slope is cut with gullies

      

A rough and brown outcropping blocks

his view to the south              

The far bank of the stream is gentle

and covered with growing grass            budding shrubs

There is

 a scattered encampment

of Mexican ranch-hands 

He dives

into the water

and swims

downstream…

 

…Out of the water he arrives

                at a bunker                                   

    still high above the valley

where

he learns

to pass through         through

concrete walls            Pass through

like

a

spirit…