a Mississippi morning dawns

with a whisper of sounds

from the river road

a crowing rooster

and the warm colors

of the sunrise

from deep orange

to a whisper of pink

still showing 

along the horizon

I stand in the old pasture

rolling terrain

reaching from atop the bluff

to the mighty river below

how I love this very spot

and the people who reside

on this rocky hill

and the glow

of the January sun

on my face

as I visit my grandfather

and parents

my cousins too

at Evergreen Heights

in southern Illinois

my heart home