Page 36 - Contrast1964Spring

CINQUAIN: WIND
o Wind,
You can tear up
Trees by their roots in a
Fury, or gently ruffle a
Daisy,
Margaret Eveland
It was late afternoon and the dust motes
una~are, flickered golden in long shafts of
sunhgh.t. ~he cornfield was still bright on the
west hi ll si de and the red dirt road had just
caught a fragment of lavender shadow. All
around there were the usual noises, the rattle
of t.he cornstalks in the wind, the cackling of
a fnghtened hen, and a dog barking somewhere
down the road. The old barn was quiet and all
the shadows ha~ come sliding in, edging over
each stall, ca~tIous, but moving smoothly in.
It was dark with a new darkness that blinded
the man as he stepped inside. He was later
glad because he could not see it then . E ven
the oppressi ve silence did not touch him until
~e saw it moving in thewind and shadow, mov-
lngslowly with a grotesque stillness. He
trembled in the heavy darkness that choked
him; he was whirling into darkness,swallowed
up.' the~hadows all ~ithin him, and his eyes
still. stanng at the rhingswin ging there softly, with only Spots of light between like brIg
turnl~gslowly underneath the heavy beam.
And It was all darkness, shadow swaying on
the wall and everywhere the smell of the deep
dust .
.34
WIND IN DRY GRASS
He could see her sitting in the dust, se~en
years old, sitting in the dust, her face st.tff,
jaw locked tight against the pain, the chtld-
face troubled, her eyes seeking his. The pony
she was nof to ride was calmly cropping graSS
beside the road and she sat still lookin g at
her leg. Seven years old, with the eyes that
knew something, told something, but the mouth
was quiet even when she laughed. Her grave
mouth knew pride, and even with the frighten-
ing pain, she would not cry, although there
was one streak across the dirt-smudged face.
When he picked her up, she wrapped her smal~
arms around his cracked brown neck and waul
not cry for he had taught her pride. She clung
to him, eyes dark with it, fighting the de~P
longing, the ache to go limp and sob the paIn
away.
Still the wind moved in the barn and the
shadows slanted new ways acro ss the w.allh,r
eyes in the' evening.