When Annie got an ache in her bones
it meant winter was coming.
Maybe the geese got an ache in their wings
for far away places.

I wondered
when I was young
why they went,
and where.
I couldn't imagine their flying
all the way to Forida
when I got lost
crossing over our mountain.
Annie would wake me,
"The geese are flying!"
I'd pretend to fly
as barefoot, in a flannel nightgown
I ran to the lake
to wave good-bye.
the Canada geese were shaftless arrows
shot from some instinctual bow
piercing the morning sky
with their raucous goodbye.

Seven years old
seems forever ago.
I've been beyond Florida without getting lost
and Annie's joined the geese
beyond the horizon.
Yet just about this time of year
when I hear the geese flying high,
I still run outside in my flannel nightgown
and with tears streaming,
wave goodbye.

Robin Berndt