I Don’t Know Why (4/20/2020)*

from the book "Selected Villanelles"

​

(for Pablo Neruda)

​

I don’t know why it came in search of me.

I don’t know when or how it came.

It came in the light or dark, I couldn’t see.

 

Dust in the wind, breezes rustle in the tree.

A speck in the universe, it has no name.

I don’t know why it came in search of me.

 

It sails in a canoe on the wild sea,

in and out of waves, don’t know where to aim.

It came in the light or dark, I couldn’t see.

 

I know it is there, still coming, it seems.

Nothing to latch on, nothing to claim.

I don’t know why it came in search of me.

​

A small bird, a nest, it’s real, not a dream.

It’s neither words nor voices, it is calm.

It came in the light or dark, I couldn’t see.

 

It is not a summons, it carries no theme.

It was cold, I can feel it now, it is warm.

I don’t know why it came in search of me.

It came in the light or dark, I couldn’t see.

​

​

*Won an honorable mention in the California

State Poetry Society 2021 Annual Contest