Over Four Days and Future Passed

I heard you sing to the morning
long before you were formed,
before you could see.
Your voice was soft
as a drop of water
falling from a leaf.
And like that drop of water,
gone too soon,
your song left undone.

The sky opened with rain today.
I saw your spirit move
like a giant hand
through the tufted prairie grass.
A torrent hit my face.
You were angry at me
for hearing you too soon
and listening too late.

The next day was bright and warm.
You were hiding like a winter fly.
You made yourself so small
I could not find you..
I closed my eyes,
sat, waited, and listened
the way you taught me to,
and only then did you sit beside me.

We talked through the night
and into the dawn
as if we had lived a lifetime
sitting through sunsets
and mornings together.
You said that time was short.
You had to leave
before the setting sun.

Tomorrow and tomorrow come
and leave in their wake
a sullen, silent isolation,
but your song has just begun.