.

I can’t churn out wind like a windmill.  I can’t

run from the warmth to the cold then back

again.  The sun looks different every morning,

and everything has changed sinced the day before –

the birdcalls, the blades of grass, the stones

beneath the earthbound feet, the clay heart, the

hands that knead bread dough at dawn.

 

You saw me, and then you saw me again, and

then again seventeen years later, and you said

I was the same.  That can’t be true.  I thought

I knew you, but it appears now that I did not.

Did you think otherwise?  Yesterday, you were

fearful, today you are sceptical, tomorrow you

will be senile and toothless, and very stubborn.

 

Let’s not try too hard.  Let’s not get ahead too

far.  Give me time to memorize the creases on

your forehead, the cracks in your voice, the shelf

where you store your precious blue-egg china.

Tell me where the spoons are, the kettle, the

pills for the morning and tablets for the night.

Tell me how you want your tea, the order of

your books, how you swim in the precious sea.

.