Picture

The abandoned barn under the enormous cloud
has a field of water to cross to get to it.
The barn has a red roof, the cloud is white,
the dirt with too much water to hold more
is a muddy plot of earth–you know the color–
surrounded fore and aft by a green field
glowing under blue sky, the barn under water.
There is no body in sight, not even a bird,
and because I am so far away it takes all
morning to imagine being there in deep snow.

* * *
–for my longtime friend Dale Jacobson,
and especially for his love Therese Masters Jacobson,
whose painting, After the Rain, inspired this

(19 December 2011)

copyright 2011 by Floyce Alexander