by Paula Rodriguez
Hidden in the magical forests of the Spanish North West, there is a place where one river makes love to the Atlantic in an open expanse of bogland, and atop the forestry hills, beyond a precariously hanging bridge, the ghosts of old monks keep guard over the stones of their Medieval ruins.
As I turn the corner
of a yellowed meadow,
blanketed by crispy leaves
and decaying pine needles,
there you stand,
tall in the dying evening:
A stone cross mounted
over a pyramid of steps.
And with you,
a wish,
and a choice.
In the crossroads of old,
your shadowy image
of stone steps
warded off the Devil’s
temptations,
to protect wandering Pilgrims,
thirst quenched off shells
under a veil of stars.
One night, the dying poet
bewitched
by the echoes
of this land of yours,
climbed your steps
of granite,
one last time,
to say goodbye to
golden waves
distant in the offing.
Today, I visit you in awe,
and walk away,
not in haste,
but reassured.
That you alone
standing in defiance
of children and ages,
show me
the path,
the only path
to follow.
Paula M. Rodriguez is an educator in greater Los Angeles. She started her literary career in Spain, where she won first award on the prestigious poetry prize Francisco Nieva, but focused thereafter on academic publications that deal with different aspects of the literary experience, from Shakespeare to Henry James. Her first poem published in the United States appeared in 2006 in The Blind Man’s Rainbow, under the title “Other Words for Absence.” Since then, she has earned prizes in the Urban Ocean poetry contest, she has published her work in two anthologies, her poems have been published by Scintilla Press and Humble Pie Literary Magazine, and her novella “Angelus” has appeared in The Write Launch.