LIKE A WINDOW

Mt. Tamalpais – L.E. Rea (1868-1927)

There are no windows on the south wall
to let the sun’s heat into a hot summer room, 
but a 3’ x 5’  L. E. Rea painting framed 
of Mt. Tam I thought was Montana 
when I was a boy in my grandfather’s house 
hanging above the mantle over the blazing, 
hairy arms of grapevines pruned, hauled 
and piled for the winter by the barn 
with the remains of corrals for draft 
horses and mules back in the day—that
my sister and I damned-near burned down
playing with matches. The fire trucks came
at dusk from town, sirens screaming closer
before I ever saw the flames.

Sunlight through mottled clouds
on the hillside near begs my eyes to stay. 
Its bare, steep peak drawing me 
from my desk to the south wall
like a window to a better place.