Bridge

© Andrew Calhoun

Rickety bridge in the wind
Maybe I could make it
If I weren't so frightened
Easier to fall
To rock
In a paroxysm of misery
Than to trust
Another step
But there is your voice
From the hillside
Steady as a mother's song
Bearing from below
With queasy step I come
And go
And step forth unbroken
And then
You push me back onto the bridge

We dance
Like philosophy
We dance as
Things work properly
Exquisite musicians
Bowing with the master's breath
The old earth resonates
From a farther distance
In each other's hands we move
In blessed mystery
Looping the room
Swooping like pigeons
And then
You extinguish your cigarette
In my eye socket

Back on the bridge
I dare less
Than ever
Moving in shock
To the center
The wind shrieks
Like a devil
And tosses me
Like wastepaper
With no song to lead me
I listen to the wind
Escape between its breaths
To a facing cliff
Whose silence
Is sweet as song