- Leaving
When I look out across the pasture at Larch Hill, this Saturday in mid-October, I think of how often we would walk here together, and talk to the herd
of cows, that would interrupt their grazing, and come to meet us by the electrified wire fence, huddled in their collective affection, tails swatting away flies;
and how we didn't quite want to leave that last time, in early September, but remained to stay, before going, to warm ourselves in the sun; and how I indicated
to you that farther up the cinder path, to the right, is where I would release prayers by the white pasture gate, to ask for guidance from the Lord. I have looked out
across the farmyard garden beyond, and over the weeks have observed that single maple tree, that overlooks the ridges of the Holyoke Range, turn
from green to crimson, then lose all its leaves. Learn not to look for answers is what I have heard, and when I have been able to listen, There is nothing
that offers more grace than loving deeply. Upon our going, we passed a woman who was sitting on the wooden bench on the boardwalk, and when we walked by her,
I remarked to you, having been startled by the look on her face, that apparently, she must be struck with grief; but I believe the woman was not
an ordinary woman, but an angel, that appeared before us, and for what is the rest of our lives, watched, with such sadness in those eyes, our leaving paradise. [End Page 104]
Wally Swist has published sixteen collections of poetry, most recently Mount Toby Poems (2009), issued in a letterpress limited edition, and, in the same year, a scholarly monograph, The Friendship of Two New England Poets, Robert Frost and Robert Francis (The Edwin Mellen Press, 2009). A documentary film regarding his work, In Praise of the Earth: The Poetry of Wally Swist, was recently released by WildArts (Hadley, MA, 2008). He can be reached through his website, www.wallyswist.com, or at wswist@yahoo.com.