In a pale meridian
clouds are chasing low
across the rainswept
desert floor, air as water
in plumes of ethereal white

bathed in sun’s blossom of
its plum and golden arc

it places me, waiting ,
in time
– my time ,
time-in-color from these hills
in a beige of savored light,
the relish of antiquity and
the dreams we
both honored
for ourselves

It is here in this place that I
hold you, hold you in this light
far above the listless sky
where its blues align beyond the
color of your eyes
– you – as Gift
only this universe can give

and the sun
in its blush of bloom

envelopes us both
in the love, the deepest
love
I have for you.

© K. James Ribble / For Jason, on his 23rd Birthday