HERE

at our grandmother's birthplace

here my mother, sisters and I
walk the very path
here, very here, this very river
in Vimpeli, Finland here this yellow round church
here this brown swift river

did she swim in it?
here we her American children
come to see to feel to touch
no, the river runs fast and deep
the very view she saw here
her whole young life
she was a very good swimmer
this very old church steeple here
these new green reeds here

she would swim out to the middle of the lake
float for hours at camp
here in dream time on Lake Lappäjarvi
after she left here in 1906
she never returned

c. 1997 Jane Piirto