I will always love you
in the shelter of my mind
on the edges of a meadow
where the sun shines all the time

—”Meadow: from The Book of Rounds,”
Emil Adler and Ryan Heller with The Austin Chamber Ensemble

•••

There you are,
on the edge of a meadow,
in the shelter of my mind,
knee deep in a gentle stream,

lanky you and the reedy fly rod
lazily laying the line gently
on the surface, the faux caddis fly
tempting, you hope, a trout.

But it does not matter if you
catch a fish; you will briefly admire it
and release it anyway.

Catching is not the point of fishing,
you taught me.

The point is to be so completely
and utterly yourself, you could
not be anything, anywhere else,

as you are forever in me.

•••

(in memory of Clifford Ernest Polland, born this day in 1952)