Given to the Wind

[dave holloway]

I’m on my balcony
and a warm wind whispers,
‘there is no answer, just this.’
Then a memory from another time
long before that very first kiss.

A child up high in a tree
looks out upon an imaginary sea.
‘Land Ho!’ he yells to friends below,
like seaman they pretend to row
to a land they discovered
within their mind,
hoping for treasure
or whatever they find.

The wind gives
another memory to me.
It was I who was up in that tree
and the land we discovered
was real enough,
surrounded by pirates
and dangerous stuff,
but we walked like men,
sure in our way
but a distant sound
ends our play,
a mother’s call ends the day

I’m back on my balcony,
wind rustling my hair
like a playful lover given to care.
I reach out for her but nothing’s there
just the wind
and it’s breath of warm air.