Like feathers, the dust filters and settles
on the large tree, overhanging
There's an old wagon in that yard
an old feeling of peace, of organic
harmony.
1.
Leaves, both green and brown
fall in gentle cascade
friends to the ground.
Wooden lattice fence, whitewashed
another kind reminder of the past
peeping over the dark-green hedge
and a Volvo leaves the driveway.
The house next door turns to haven.
It was opposite, actually.
Another afternoon brings a different dweller
the big foot of a high school girl, later becoming
a talented guitar-player.
I am so small. The world looks so big.
The park opposite beckons
and we swing from the low branches
deep believers of dreams
hardly understanding their waiting depth.
Playing in the park. Tall fir trees
and laughter on the roundabout
like blitz electrical impulses.
Moments caught in time
like a picture in sepia-reverie
a grayscale existence belying its full colour-burst.
Sweetest freedom. Oblivion still.
2.
On the waves of every passing day, I grow
and unwitting to strange things, too.
Clambering like wild monkeys from window to window
and invisible eyes, later tell on us.
And then, carefree learns quickly
to bundle up its energy, crawl away.
Heart turns inward and thoughts go haywire.
Reprimands teach the art of secrecy
to hide away blossoming poems.
I see rituals and glee, rites and wrongs.
Someone took all my oranges and the books
I thought to save.
Children, seeds in a forest.
Inside the houses of people, few can tell
of the messy mechanics in the bog.
So much to say still but I falter.
I trip on the tensed wire of experience
over and over.
Seem not to learn but it sinks in
after a while. I keep my little notes
under the carpet or in a box
that once housed chocolates
for someone.
'Tis folly, say they, to be wise
but oft, ignorance tastes better
in the face of knowledge.
For, when those scales tip enormously
away
from the feeling of those first moments
of bliss - shy, new buds are clipped
and hardy replaces the once-supple.
No, without fail - words struggle
to capture the swirl of childhood in the air.
