"Like Mountains" (poem for Jim by Joe Baker)

         Like Mountains

I searched for you on the cracked and aching mountain
And stood at the jagged edge.

        Like this mountain, we are wearing away.

I spoke sacred words into the blinding face of the sympathetic sun.
I learned the flow of the arroyo,
And followed it down, half expecting to see you at the bottom.
Yes, when I turned, you’d be there.
That would have been just like you,
And I know you like the cool night air.

         In the blue evening the weight of night
         Creeps down the valley like an old cat.
         For you the moon rises full and cold
         Like the ice on the perfect mountain,
         And in the deepest hours
         The wind moans for the dawn.

In the night I see:
Our paddles dip the still waters and you begin to recite
It is Eliot, but you do not speak of cats, no:
Of thunder; of spring; over distant mountains.

                  Shantih, shantih, shantih.

Yes, you could show up at any moment

         Brother, like mountains we are rising.

                  Shantih, shantih, shantih.