Poem: Hard roads

 

Balsam nights, nights heavy with perfume,

balsam-scented earth at first rising of the full moon;

 

And the hard roads that led

to different destinations,

the hard roads mellowed into silken strips

of asphalt, bathed with particular guile,

smothered in sudden mystery;

 

All of a sudden

did I see a wraith-like figure swaying, dark and musical?

Did I see such a thing?

Under a sweet moon, such dark shining?

Something or someone swayed, some voices

whispered some softt things, under the tamarinds,

against that subtle light, a silhouette glowed, glided

and was gone.

Where am I now? 

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From  A Sad Piper 1994