Under the Pepper Tree

After walking several miles,

I take my rest and sit

in the shade of a pepper tree.

I wait on you, thinking of what to say,

and no that for evermore

I can only speak the truth of my heart.

For months now, I haven’t seen your face

with my own eyes.

Yet, I hold your vision in my heart

and feel your words pass through my mind.

If I had only heard your words

before; and let them pierce my heart,

and had chosen to see all you knew

I should see.

Then, perhaps, we’d hold hands

under this pepper tree;

instead of wrestling for some

restoration of sanity.

August 24, 2003; Benicia, California

February 28, 2014; under a mango tree in Granada, Nicaragua