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goodbye matilija 113
"We saw bears on Pine Mountain,"
releasing us to resume
the solitudes we broke,
she mine, that is, I hers.
I go and she stays on.
I meet nobody else
The rest of the way down.
The appearances all say
she has come up here alone
and on the spur of the moment.
It is dark when I reach my car.
recollection
I saw a ballpoint pen,
of clear plastic, like new,
its vein of blue ink full,
lying athwart the trail
just where it starts to dip
down to the twelfth crossing
and the pool and the bigleaf maple.
I paused considering
what should be done with it,
not wanting it myself,
not wanting to leave the thing
there in plain view, either.
With the worn toe of my boot
I worked it underneath
the slightly raised underside
of a small sandstone boulder
till it was out of sight.
There it will be, just where
the trail begins to dip....
The boulder is on the right.