Silver Lining

A marathon of a drive
beyond mni wak’áŋ
across Dakota plains

The prize?
Your face
behind scratched plexiglass
And your voice
edged with static
close to my ear

Awkward at first
No privacy permitted
No touch
No breathing-in
the fragrance of sandalwood
on your body

But I will be satisfied, my love
with your face
and your voice

And hearing you impart
how in the bleakness
of all you’re enduring
I am your
silver lining

See also the previous chronologically-ordered Wild Reed posts:
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ March 29, 2019
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ April 16, 2019
• Sunset Reflections and Jet Trail
• Amidst Mississippi Reflections and Forest Green
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ July 14, 2019
• My Love, “Return to the Root of the Root of Your Own Soul”
• Somalia Bound
• Family Time in Guruk . . . and Glimpses of Somaliland
• It’s You
• Morning Light
• The Landscape Is a Mirror
• Out and About ~ Spring 2020
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ November 18, 2020
• November Musings
• “So You Can Only See Beautiful Things”
• Skylight
• Where You Take Me
• What We Crave
• Spring . . . Within and Beyond (2021)
• Blue Yonder
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ June 29, 2021
• Just One Wish
• In My Dreams . . .
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ November 25, 2021
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to the Living Light
• When Sorrow Comes
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ February 13, 2022
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ August 25, 2022
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ January 4, 2023
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ January 16, 2023
• Allow Everything to Rest Right Now
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ February 14, 2023
• Here in This Falling Darkness
• Undone
• The Paradise We’ll Make
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ June 4, 2023
• In the Stillness and Silence of This Present Moment
• September Garden
• Like a Lotus Flower
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ September 7, 2023
• Aglow
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ October 1, 2023
• October Afternoon
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ November 12, 2023
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ November 19, 2023
• We Are the Mirror
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ December 3, 2023
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ December 8, 2023
• Precious Words
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ December 24, 2023
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ February 7, 2024
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ February 21, 2024
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ March 1, 2024
• Sweet Surrender
• Undeniably Real
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ June 27, 2024
• Ghosts
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ September 21, 2024
• Summer’s End
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ October 8, 2024
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ October 12, 2024
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ October 13, 2024
• Adnan and the Winged Heart
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan ~ October 20, 2024

See also:
• The Choice (and Risk) That Is Love
• Love As “Quest and Daring and Growth”
• Love As Exploring Vulnerability
• Your Scent I Know
• The Body: As Sacred and Knowing as a Temple Oracle
• To Dream, to Feel, to Listen
• The Gravity of Love
• What We Crave

Words and images: Michael J. Bayly. (All photos taken on Saturday, September 27, 2025; except photo 2 which was taken on Friday, December 8, 2023.)