One Country Mile

photo by Kinsey

Such a  little road of no significance

one perfect prairie mile

stretching east to west straight and true as only a prairie road can

pointing your slender, ruddy finger from ferry road to river hills

centre of my universe.

You were not designed for traffic

for getting harried people from point A to point B

indeed, Google Maps knows not of your existence

and there is no reason why they should

and oh, how I love that thought.

Our little country mile

that brings us home

that piles up high with winter snow

until we are closed in

within

delighted at the prospect

of not getting out

and no one getting in

just reveling in the mystery of home.

Oh yes, there are the neighbor folk

dear people that they are

their yard light a beacon half a mile up the way

warming our hearts

when the nights get dark

and we could feel so far removed from reality.

For you, oh little country mile

are off the beaten track

just where we like you.

In the middle of nowhere

centre of our universe.

I learned to run on your crunchy surface

fields of wheat stretching away from me as far as the eye can see

I revel in the sound of your little sandy stones under my feet

or the wheels of my children’s bicycles

or my beloved’s tires as he turns in the drive at day’s end.

What walks and confidences have been shared

along the ribbon of your ruddy lane

and you hold all dreams and secrets well.

I can’t but smile when I turn your corner

See the river hills rolling away before me

and the stately trees that line your flank

arresting the wind and furnishing a still and magical shelter

for the traveler blessed to pass beneath their shadow.

The two little farmyards half mile apart

One so perfect, so manicured, lovely

a feast for the eyes and the soul.

And then comes ours

and I just smile. 

Little country house with many gables,

Big red barn with tumbledown stables

windmill reaching to the sky

five little children on the fly

from orchard to pond, garden to gate

dugout to pasture and back again

You are only one bantam country mile

yet you harbor so much joy

and so much life.

Raccoons and muskrats, deer galore

foxes and coyotes, skunks and more

owls and eagles, hawks and squirrels

all hide in your ditches, your woods, your bowels

my little country mile.

My  sweet country mile

on this homey country quarter

in a vast prairie province

in this magnificent northern nation

on this continent of continents

center of my universe.

 

 

Home.

 

my contribution to Random Acts of Poetry.