There was a country we could have been

There was a country we could have been
together – utterly shapeless
and well past reform

A laughing country with as many sides
as a well-cut diamond – tumbling valleys
of rusty lakes, rivers above,
seas to the right and left

The world would look and lust
for this land glistening emerald and sapphire
sitting in the sun rocking
on its heels with night’s cool laughter –
How they’d hate us and how they’d long
for our warmth, our knowing, our winking
and getting by

If the mist came down real thick
some morning with the blinding rain
with the mountains plush and forest thick
and the bears standing guard
while everyone was busy fighting –
could we be our country yet?