Nostalgia Walks Poem by A.Z. McCoy

How far Nostalgia walks,
Her Bouquet held to chest,
In slow stride across
Time-dusted floodplain,
Windworn and dry
Cracked clay
and sunswept sands
Her hemline flows
of a thousand fire-dying days
sinking into land
Around the sweep
Her dress traces
Circles in the sand


Through this carousel of
Days she keeps
Like raindrop's eternal slide
down a petal
Of her bouquet
The clear bead glimmers of
Lovers and her hometown
Giddy splash of youth and water
She knew once
In slow stride
Gone by


With each footstep
Soft tamp
pressing scant, broken sentiment
The magic that sustains this
Far-gone place
Once of thunder-crashing rapids
Where water flowed
Now breathes
In each footfall
The small cloud she creates
Rises
around the curve
Of her ankle
Makes love the precious moment knows
Delicate wilt of flower
On fire-singed clay


Long ago
The winds whispered answer,
Blew back from Elliptime ledge,
In sandstorm letters
Of the echo
Bounded in chrysalis loom
And ocean's wavy ripple


Sky's mirror revealing
Rust on the blownout clocks
Mnemosyne sings, musing of Dawn
We skipped along
Azure shores
Touched at faraway dusk
And kissed under
The moon's unflinching gaze
That swirls and shudders such moments
In woven loom


Her bouquet pulls closer
A tickle of ancient pollen
She laughs with a wrinkle
At the girl who has followed her
Through harsh deserts
Trails of her phantom
Wind's answer covering their tracks
They follow this call
Sleeping back
Back to a present song
Unwaking
The sparkled desert's dusk
Leads them
Separate and together