My
Alaska
I
have never really left Alaska.
Its
geography is fixed in my heart;
How
the aurora on a winter night
Will
take flight, stretching across the whole sky,
Or
how the sly midnight sun casts shadows
Across
a free-flowing wilderness stream.
All
I have to do is sit by a stream
And
like a remembered dream, Alaska,
Appearing
out of memories’ shadows,
Memories
that lie deep within my heart,
Take
shape like the moon in the autumn sky
When
thin clouds depart on a windy night.
In
winter the day hours are mostly night,
It’s
easy to walk on a frozen stream.
An
owl will take flight in the silent sky
Above
the taigascape of Alaska
The
Brooks Range, like a slowly beating heart,
Casts
deep, dark, and slowly moving shadows.
When
snow begins to melt in the shadows
And
the flood of sunlight reduces night,
The
sight of flowing water cheers the heart
And
people launch canoes upon the streams,
Both
great and small, that criss-cross Alaska.
Heading
north, a flock of swans in the sky.
Days
arrive, long and warm with sun-filled sky,
When
it seems as if there are no shadows
To
be found anywhere in Alaska,
And
people sleep less during the brief night,
Listening
to the sound of nearby streams
That
seems to soothe a busy mind and heart.
Cold
comes quickly and falls upon the heart.
Winds
start to pull the leaves into the sky.
All
those years have slipped by me like a stream
Increasingly
covered by long shadows.
I’m
swiftly approaching that endless night,
The
sight of the tundra of Alaska.
An
Alaska lives deep within my heart.
During
the night while standing on the sky
Shadows
from the past like a stream flow by.
