LOUISE FIROUZ
a
Tribute
‘Come with me.’ she said. As the wind whirled the sand
into words.
‘Come with me’ as the flying scarf wrapped her words with softness.
Come with me and my horse into the scented river of time
And the history of the world. Follow my hoof beats.
Come with me across Great Alexander’s wall and see
the other side,
Come with me for the journey is long and the nights are
Full of stars and the smell of horse sweat and the mingling of felts.
Come with me on a journey through time, where life is not precious
but time is.
Come with me, she said. I saw in her eyes a voyage,
I saw a dream of a land beyond dreams.
And I followed into the land with great forests and rivers
And down into deepest canyons and high over mountains
of hope.
Our horses crushed the wild flowers and ate the corn
Our silence became our own, and we grew back into people.
She watched as we met ourselves and she laughed at her own times mirror
And she mounted her horse again and said,
‘Come with me.’
I watched as her life dried up like a source in the hot sun, it vanished,
and all that was left was a legend, a great river once flowed here, a source of life and wisdom,
And there looking for water, a horse, tall, thin-necked, long limbed, golden in the sun.
And I sat by the source and wept.
Caroline Baldock, © 2008