the Earth was rebuilt

on my land voyage to the center of a mature forest
where i once upon a time lost my beating heart
there was a feeling somewhere on the side of the road
and i stopped at the closet service plaza
where i reasoned to find it.
you might not know where to look
but i saw the sign warning of high wind gusts
and knew it was nearby and since
it was growing dark and i was tired
i scaled the adobe walls of the restored Alamo
and saw Colonel Travis who held aloft the lone star flag
and it reminded me of the wound i previously felt.
when Jim Bowie drank mission water from his old canteen,
a determined Mexican army grabbed his sharp long knife
which they used repeatedly to stab my back.
i subsequently awoke along the Rio Grande river with a
mountain lioness by my side, a beautiful feline,
and she wore a soft gray cap and gave me a new heart.
i placed the happy heart inside a bear-proof container before
the next days' hike around Emory Peak and knew
that i'd eventually return for a cup of hot coffee and my evening meal.
at night the stars above Texas are as thrilling as the brilliant stars
above the lakes of New Mexico and the sky was brutally dark.
under sunny skies green birds would sing "Oh, Susanna" and the land west of the Pecos
was mostly dry even though people still cried with the remembrance
of a lost band of fallen heroes or having eaten too many refried beans.
sitting in my captain chair i sipped white wine with the lioness who read me an article
from the New York Times and pointed her paw to the metal box where
my heart was still securely stored.
when my glass was finally emptied, i walked to a nearby ghost town,
and followed directions to the historic cemetery where the dead stayed dead
even underneath a blood red moon in the month of October.
i had carried my healthy heart in a camouflaged day pack along with a
tattered army blanket i brought back from the long-ago Vietnam War.
i went missing for a total of seven days and when i returned
the Earth was completely rebuilt, my heart was once again inside my chest,
and the lioness snuggled up against my side in a leaky tent.
i was still horny for life and so was she.