across the meandering miles
you are with me

as is the October sky
balmy, starlit, fluctuant.

i watched you teach
the tall writing-board occupied by

truths, theories, thoughts
sparkling in the slant of dust-filled light;

or during practice, we sat before you, doing
caught up in self-doubt, oblivious to what to how,

my eyes rising momentarily to glance at you,
curious, wondering about your how your what what if.

the distance between us is long
and near:

i can see your eyes tonight
i know your frowns and smiles

how they chase each other
over that open countenance

like sunlight and shadows
in a wind-swept plain