Lot Lines

.

Perusing
                                         the perimeter
                                          of the yard
                                                      where he spent
                                                  his youth

having allowed
                                             its natural order
                                                  with native trees
                                                    and feral grasses

he steps across the lines
through the fences
                 into the neighboring lands

Pahn looks first                                           
into the residential yards
finding them
regimented
or poorly tended
littered       
          with outbuildings
and invasive vines
unappealing                          

He looks next                                             
into the commercial lots
that are full
of bricks
and lumber
                 and imminent forklifts

On the remaining side                                   
there are farms
big enough
                         to go running

but there are no trees
for shade
  or concealment
and the wild animals
                                    with thick pelts
                                                 which are not constrained
                                          by the borders of society
         hunt in the open
                         running into the wilderness
 
                                                                  for safety

These lands are private
and the owners       protective

A man is not allowed
to cross

…

Pahn returns                                                           
to the comfort                       
of his own meadow

taking off his clothes                        
and exposing his integrated sex
                strolling up   the gravel drive
                                             Here
he sits on a boulder                               
in the sun
as a line of cars appears
                       full of his parents’    generation

He is baffled                         
at their appearance
and is not sure what to do      
 But since they are         uninvited
                                           and in his space
he attends to his sex
                                               as if they weren’t there
But soon shame                  
                      comes to him with the realization
                         that he has 
                                                walked up his neighbor’s drive
                    and not his own

…

The cars have soon passed
and Pahn follows them

They have turned into his yard
running over the fence
making ruts
                 in his virgin field

As he ponders                                       
this unexpected event     
people on foot                                 
break through the fences
in other places

These pedestrians
are fewer
and friendlier
         and better looking

One gray haired woman
has gotten caught
in the brambles

She is older                          
but she is pretty
                                          and smiles into    Pahn’s eyes

She lies in the hammock
                                             with him
as the guests approach
                   from his parents’     unseen house

She turns into a younger woman
with large freckles
and dark eyes

She turns into teen-age twins

His hopes for love fade as the guests come nearer
and the girls become    younger     and dumb
                                            and disapproval looms
 
                                          Giving up
Pahn rolls out of the hammock
which is now        
                                             on a small rise
                                               and standing
                                                              with his old brother
                                                                and friends
            the low stratus
                        which has hovered
                             over the morning
                                                                     lifts
                                                     and dissipates

Pahn marvels                                                     
that even this small elevation
 
                                        can expand
                                                                               the sky
                                                           into a great   web
                                   of blue
                                                              and cirrus

above the fences
and hedges 
    and the rows
  of houses

and here
                                     the sky
 
                                bigger than the earth

                                    a cloudy emptiness
                                                                           extending
                                           to the mountains
                                            on the horizon

reminds him
that there is
                                  a wilderness
which his confined     wildness
                                         strains
to join.

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