Intoned in moments when
The heart bleeds nostalgia
Recalled in waking dreams when
Thoughts meet the rising sun
Of a distance required by force
Engendering quiet regrets of betrayal
Of once embraced atmosphere
Of once wishing to stay
Of once disillusioned, parting
She breaks a legion of hearts
Dressed in ancient garbs
Of historic significance
A Colonel here and a slave there
And mortar for stones
Mixed with the blood
Of lesser souls
To build ramparts
Upon which feet
Now trample
With gaudy delight
Fragranced with the perfume
Of ocean air and coconut
Oil kneaded into giving flesh
Of half-thought fantasies
And glowing at night is how
You best remember
This place in time
This questionable act
And always calling
From the present to return
To torrential rains
And barefoot traipsing
And early cockcrows mixed
With the Palenquera’s calls
Offering a breaking
Of your sleep fed fast
With mangos
And PLATANITOS!
Your early morning remembrances beckon
So you will return
To spread yourself
Across her walls
Dust to be strewn
Into Caribbean winds
To leave where you had started
And close the circle
Of a remoteness settled
With a final flight
Delineated by your testament
To feel the subsuming
Of all places folded
Into this one place
That consumes and permeates
Your every waking thought
As you walk the circuitous streets
That slowly empty
Until it's her and you
In each other’s arms at last
