Visitor from Abroad

 So surprising you've been back,

Even more to the things you kept track.

The green and brown hues here have stayed,

Only the phlox carrying that pink shade.

Did you prefer the cacti, brush, dirt, and slush

To those layered mounds and lush foregrounds?

Here, you won't find roofs carrying such a troublesome design,

No godly statues or festivals to spend your time,

No lamps to freely shimmer or such careful thought to dinner.

I ride to you now thinking of the white-faced bear in your letter,

How more frightening than our last grizzly encounter!

On their open travels, among those populous river flows,

What might stain their faces in the vestal water?

I ride to you now with your venture in mind,

The piling questions holding me in a variable bind.

But more do the flames manage to impede me,

As I ride nearer to your furtive farm.

The poppy plants you've brought back and grown,

With promise to indulge,

Is all that stands above the dirt

Wet and cold.

Your body is within that visage,

Softly laid among the plunged and charred planks.

But the poppys aren't all that stand,

As a silhouette creeps around the toppled foundation.

Curled hat and buttoned coat,

Posture refined with expression remote.

At it's waist a clear gleam,

Signaling a cautious holster hovering.

At the deep shadow of it's feet,

A circle of stones form and meet.

It's eyes cramped and buried in mystique,

It's mouth toting nothing with not a crease in the cheek.

And with my sprawled fingers and barrel whirling upwards,

It's appendages fleetly flutter.

Author's Note

I have been trying to write complex narratives in poem formats. It seems to confuse at times, but it also still seems there's enough there to get the idea. Any thoughts or interpretations would be greatly appreciated! I've heard quite varying ones already from my writing class.