Wild Once and Captured (revised)

An earlier version of this poem can be found here.
A further revision can be found here.

Wild Once and Captured
On Hearing Annie Lennox

Wild Once and Captured
On Hearing Annie Lennox


A prairie full of flowers,
a whisper full of rhythms,
a mirror full of faces,
a mountain draped with heroes,
every one a rarity
designed in regnant places.

Here music summons silence,
here longing is allure
and touching is an art
and dancing is a language
and searching leads us one by one
to stories all our own,
and to stories told in common.

Here smolders spirit,
rich and ripe
with promise, peace and legend.
There drums yammering in clearings
where we are jamming with justice
who was wild once and captured
and has broken out again.