Footsteps Poem by Sally Evans

Footsteps




Dressed as the garden muse
she came to me and said, ‭
‬You see me on the grass
now, ‭ ‬give me some words, ‭ ‬now, ‭
‬give me new words
never before said.‭

‬I sent her packing.‭
‬If she had given me speech
I would put this half-tamed grass, ‭
‬I would put the clear sky
and the baring trees
into a language not yet spoken.‭


Said she, ‭ ‬You do not understand.‭
‬Said I, ‭ ‬I understand too well.‭
‬If I have to give you words
you are no muse but fake.‭
‬Whereon she faded, ‭
‬one of her own tricks.‭

‬I thought how the true guide
had filled and crammed this field
with outdoor light
and now stood quiet
beside the sundial.‭
‬Across the apple trees‭

‬I felt low sun
reflect a freshness
in its departing hour, ‭
‬while footsteps crept away, ‭
‬leaves and words merged
in the darkening woods.

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