You Come Singing – a poem by Liz Nakazawa

 

 You Come Singing

between terrified birds
and oak trees and phone calls
between eastern breezes and wind from the towers
                              you come singing


under the knowledge
that music both haunts and saves
close to roots that love its bushes
                               you come singing


using words that both reveal and conceal
drawing out arpeggio and cantata
forming the notes in your throat
                               you come singing


through beginner’s luck and hocus-pocus
and melodies of blossoming and remains of language
within meters and pentameters
                                you come singing


deep in cool sand offering its driftwood
that horses ride over
beasts of clear sounds and promises
                                you come singing


closer to the heart’s understanding
the mind and its tentacles
the soul and its caverns
                               you come gladly singing

Liz Nakazawa is the editor of Deer Drink the Moon:Poems of Oregon. This is an anthology of 33 Oregon poets writing nature poems. Her own poetry has appeared in Willawa, Timberline Review, Amethyst Review, ahundredgourds and other publications.