Alvaro Cardona-Hine

The following is a letter that I wrote while at our cabin to an amazing man that we met in Truchas New Mexico. He is a writer, composer and artist.

Today the angels are crying
filling the sky with teardrops.
I can not work on the roof today
for the certainty of accident.
Instead I read your book
"The Half Eaten Angel"
and I regard your literary genius.
I promised you Alvaro,
that in turn for
this wonderful
gift you bestowed upon my wife Athena,
that I would send you a copy
of my book
in which I now feel as inadequate of your reading time.
I have thought this through
many times since first reading your book.
I do have to tell you that "Agapito,"
makes me
witness life in a more natural comparison.

Today I walked to the creek
to fill my water container,
when I noticed on my way that I had forgotten
about an apple tree.
The fruit was sweet and delicious
and so rewarding to find there alone in the wilderness.
I continued across the bridge
over the clear water of the river
to muse
myself with the small spawning Salmon
all red.
I fill my container
noticing the greenest of mosses
covering a shard of rock
and thanked God for this colour
and for the water.
On my return to the cabin
a rooster and hen follow me.
He calling out and she following.
I managed to get a few chores done
around the cabin;
even found a dead tree nearby
to cut into great lengths of firewood
to be digested by my barrel stove.
This afternoon
light is falling
as fast as the rain.
I return to the kitchen
and heat some soup and tea
in the dim orange light of a kerosine lantern.

But first, I must
thank you
for opening my eyes to a world of poetic beauty
that surrounds us daily
seldom noticed.