When Peg Laughs Like Liz

When Peg laughs like Liz

deep woman-hearted laugh

eating beef jerky on Mesa Verde

the good hearts and smarts of women

come back to me, not guessing

any better than they at the time what love

meant, leaving them behind in sandstone time

going to my own cement, sandstone

or good mountain grave

having seen the sharp-shinned and sparrow

hawk flying and at rest, not at peace, 

seeking prey from a ponderosa snag.

I left my woman behind to float

alone down the long canyon for feathers

and signs, she's making camp

the moon half full, the sun half high

sky full of planets birds and stars

I look up from the rocks

elements

housekeeping, thinking

love that's learned to love

from earlier loves

laughs remembered, heard

in the laugh of the woman who is my wife.