Poem: Velicky stit in Tatra Mountains (my painting)

A Larch in the Tatra

Her rust rosettes were veiled in pure, soft snow
and in the mist and silence,
she whispered,
‘Write for me!’

And because I loved her
and she was alone
and with no voice
I wrote,

‘I am waiting
in the dark forest of pine and spruce
till spring to give you:
bursting rosettes of young love,
joy in new life,
then summer sun and sparkling waterfall,
your princess of ‘The Emerald Lake.’

‘The lake freezes.
Icicles grow by the waterfall
and my needles lie on the snow.’

My Reply

Though torn by winter wind
we reach to sunlit snowy peaks.

My path, vertiginous,
lies along a ridge.

Your Way is not along a path,
unless it be by tracks of little creatures
or the bird that flies to your branches.

Rocks, fallen trees, deep snow
lie between us.

My green eyed princess,
we shared the fireworks
of spring, the sparkling waterfall.

Now winter freezes my blood
and your needles
lie on the snow,
bleeding a rusty juice.