Sunday, December 19, 2010

Hunting Healing Herbs on James River Banks


Remote and awkward legs weak-wobble-walk.
Dear mistress cannot swallow or sit up,
Our voyage carved thin limbs, sallowed her face--
but herbs and roots will speed recovery.
My brother questions workers about springs
where rushing water spurts a growth of cures.
Distracted colonists continue on
until a man called Laydon stops to talk.
A carpenter, he searches timber sites.
He brags of watercress with rounded lobes;
then names a wondrous tree with magic bark.
And he keeps turning, turning toward me.

Just a layer herbs between the dampened moss,
just lower head and never look at him.
This sawer calls my name and I respond
to one who tries to tease me into smiles.
I focus on his face, his twitching ears.
I stand and stare him down but have to stop
befor a strangeness that I've never seen.
Green eyes hold visions of a form and face.
No lake or mirror shine such imagery.
This man reflects a me who turns around
to grasp my brother's arm and walk away.
All night I hear his laughter--in my dreams.


* In medieval times, girls were warned never to look into a man's eyes.  If you saw your reflection in his eyes, you were destined to marry him.

Patricia Flower Vermillion          2008
from Lady's Maid
Live Wire Press, Charlottesville , VA

1 comment:

  1. Arriving in Virginia in the second supply about 1608, maid to Mistress Forrest, Anne Burras speaks of her experiences in the very earliest days of the Virginia Colony. Ms Vermillion's poems in Lady's Maid are written in Anne's voice.

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