Cher KT

Last night a heavy frost lay on the ground and the lawn was white in the light of a cold crescent moon. I forgot to sleep and sat pounding at the typewriter for hours while my brother and his friends drank and danced in the  rooms downstairs.
Morning came and the sun was very bright. I went down into the living room and looked out over the garden. The sun had turned the frost to water and every blade of grass was hung with shining pearls of dew. Each one a perfect sphere. I went out in my slippers and an old overcoat and walked on the grass and breathed in the fresh smell of the morning. I remembered just how far I was from you, in body and in soul, just how many miles hung between us.
Now I am looking out of my window again. The sun has gone down over the hills and the air looks clear to me. Clear as blue crystal. My brother is on the telephone talking to his girlfriend or some other companion.
There are over six hundred miles between us. A depth no man has plunged to and a height only the bravest have aspired.

In my dreams I am standing at the edge of the Preacher's Cliff, two thousand feet above the water. The air is cold and there is a slight breeze but I am not afraid. The water shimmers blue in afternoon sunlight. I am no longer concerned about prison, about debt, about ruin and iniquity and all the parcels of shame I drag in my waking hours. Here above the waters, I feel free.