Low and Bright
(The Seven Dwarfs' Horizon Suite)
for Pieter Outte
Act One
these aren't dreams
in which you appear
these are fence posts
marking time & distance
where cleetis the crow sat
laughing at the folly of shiny things
(supplying talismans for those
who would make the connection)
this isn't winter approaching
with baited breath
it is the coldest place
i can find and in finding it
am reminded that
you are not here
still and again
no matter how many times
i search up & down
up
&
down
the whole
goddamned
coast
Act Two
this is the road trip
we never took
never promised or even agreed
to take when taking each other
into the heart
(the only ring
a child can wear is
a ring from the left hand of oz)
this is the moment of looking
into the magic mirror to find
the fair child has been frozen in time
and realizing
she has been holding the flame
that would release her
all along
(the only ring a child can hear
is where ring is what a bell does)
Act Three
she follows sun colored swallows
to the horizon
and often
more than not
wonders if waiting there for him
has been the wrong approach
all along
when it was those very swallows
who showed her how
to lead the way out
Epilogue
(the way out
it turns out
involves going through it
a simple thing
which any man behind the curtain
could have told us)
Adrienne Veronese
december 2009
