ANCIENT INNOCENCE

It is next to impossible
to lose my spontaneity
when,
like a jazz-like composition,
I am steeped
in the aromas of change.

My brain is on fire
with the sights and sounds
and scents of Cambodia.
I am alive, uncertain, but so alive,
and emancipated for the moment
from the known,
and totally seduced
by the richness of the unknown.

Undisturbed by space or time,
I move forward
like a sleepwalker,
but always with my love,
my twin soul,
at my side.
My years of having loved
and been loved
have prepared me
to ride the waves of transformation
and to savor the opportunity
to, repeatedly,
give birth to myself.

My air was always rich
with the fragrance of your smile,
because your smile was a reflection
of your soul.
So it is no surprise
that I search for mine
in an alien country of smiles
from those who have lost so much
and have so little.

I take solace
from ancient innocence
and find it to be a perfect, simplistic balance
to my world.

My path continues to meander
from country to country,
like the mystical Mekong River,
but I linger only long enough
to say hello to history
and goodbye to my baby.

In uninvaded silence,
as white as the spider lilly
by the water,
we are connected, as always,
between ourselves and the earth...

beyond the years and dust.

© JOHN PISCATELLA