nothing left but a river flowing on the borders of heaven.
– Li Po (“On Yellow-Crane Tower, Farewell to Meng Hao-jan Who’s Leaving for Yang-chou”)
Branding big calves an hour from the asphalt,
snow-laden Sierras dressed in diaphanous clouds
a stone’s throw across the North Fork canyon
from these corrals too short for modern cows,
we talk about the pressure-treated posts you set
six foot down back when I can’t remember.
Away from the world for years, you are both here
and beyond the Great Western Divide,
a fuzzy white river flowing south to somewhere.
for Gary Davis
