Why do you think it is necessary
to visit me here, in my place of origin?

Do you think I cannot reach you wherever
you are? Must you believe in talismans?
I admit doubt. I have wandered
all over, as have you, and all I know

is inside me, not here in this cave
or in my sometimes surprising medicines.
Inside is that old mystical thread
connecting us. Then we return to magic?

You say these paintings represent
my mythology. Perhaps. Some of us
dream wild dreams and press them upon
each other; that is inevitable.

All I truly care about is this thread
and you and me talking right now.

———–
A further conversation with my Co-Magnon friend. The title is from William Stafford’s ’Inscribed on a Prayer Wheel and Spun.’