Calm Sea of Remembrances

The Echo of What Remains Collected Poems of Wanda Lea Brayton

I have not been to Capistrano, imbued by butterflied aching 

or drifted arches through Angangueo under a slow midnight sky, yet -  

I have heard the motions of wings wild and benign with glory. 

I have never danced in Paris or whispered in Venice, 

although I have sipped café au lait at an anonymous bistro  

and floated aimlessly in a shallow boat,  

my fingers trailing in the currents of an unnamed canal. 

There were no minstrels 

or ministering angels 

to anchor my sorrow or alleviate my joy.

I have forgotten a thousand places - 

misplaced far too many names and faces, 

but no matter how aged or infirm I may eventually become,  

I shall never forget 

the feeling of your breath discovering my flesh 

or the scent of your hair as you slept beside me, 

wandering within these foreign fields.