Walking on Whales
from Walking on Whales: Poems & Haibun, page 49
Petaluma, 2007
for Virginia
The Downs rise before me
across the River Ouse at Southease.
They ride the earth like warm,
smooth, rounded beings
breathing and beckoning,
these treeless, chalkmarked hills
undulating beneath cloud shadow.
Wind takes me over as I climb the whale’s back,
fills my ears with beguiling whispers,
scuttles me along the Neolithic track past
ancient burial mounds and white-faced sheep.
I levitate into the cloud-foamed sky.
Other hikers on this South Downs trail salute
with hand or walking stick, none speak.
We all belong to sky and wind and sea
glittering beyond the last hump.