Twentieth Reunion

The full moon of July
swings up from the south

mourning doves and jarflies
carry the pulse of day

across the cooling shoals
of the Hogohechee

across the sacred ground
of the Cherokee

echoing through the hollows of our night
and our maturity and away

unto the slumbering mountain
with the loneliness now

as great
as it is

impossible

Kingsport, Tennessee
1988