What Is a Connection to Place?

When I consider indigenous people's strong 
ongoing connection to their land,
I feel I am missing something.

Maybe it was the early missing terrain
of my mother's body,
Maybe the many times I was
moved to different places,
Maybe all the time I spent indoors.

I do remember loving the smell of pine trees
and their quiet,
And the powerful, golden light
when I lived in California.

Every evening, as I prepared dinner,
the dark would move slowly from my window
across the valley to the hillside opposite.
That landscape was resplendent, shining in all its glory
For my astonished eyes
Every day.