your white city

i came upon a city
in a dreamy sleep
an ancient town of 
of white homes
of fragrant gardens 
on a river that flowed
through the city and
into the city and homes
via ducts built to cool
in the hot summers

i came upon that city
that city of white
that city you loved 
and always spoke of 
the city where we
might have met and
talked on my exile 
on my trek to find... life
and hope and meaning
and purpose and...

i felt foreign and at
home in your white city.
i looked for you and looked
for the magic you were
just born into rooted
deeply in that white town
and found neither until...

i sat by the river and
let it all go in a moment
and finally found you all around
in every yogic breath
in every water babble
in the wind and sun
in the warble of birds 

i felt you wisdom 
beyond your years 
steeped in centuries of history
in that city named for you