I don't mean to keep you waiting
for forever and a half.
I just need to finish something
my to-do list
catch my breath.

Always moving, always squirming
I can barely hear you now.
Please stop drilling through my forehead.
Just in time I'll
turn around.

When the last leaf falls
and the twigs ice o'er and the buds come out
I'll turn around.

I'm not ready.
I'm not ready
and I don't know what I look like anymore.

When the last leaf falls
and the twigs ice o'er
and I hear you shout
I'll turn around.

Are you still there?
Still there waiting?
Do you still want me back somehow
I'll turn to stone
or ice
or fire
any second now!

You've been sitting at my elbow
and I feel you brush my back.
Now I'm looking. I've said nothing
and you look okay with that.

Grass grows thicker
petals glimmer
and the Earth accepts my feet.
Was that really
all you wanted
just to sit a while with me?

He was 3; issued a blanket,
It too was part of the property.
As I move into this thought
Africa becomes a coast.
I do not know it. Sandy or rock?
My mind moves into the forest,
My heart, into a village.
A toddler clings to the robe covering
The dark skin of her mother.
“Africa” the word is read,
“Place of birth: Africa”.

meet me by the sunset tree
meet me at the lonely sea

meet me now and meet me then
meet me soon and yet again

meet me while the music plays
meet me through the brightest days

meet me with a broken rose
meet me where the water flows

meet me neath a weeping moon
meet me past a tarnished noon

meet me on my lowest tide
meet me even if I lied

meet me when the tale is told
meet me as the wind grows cold

meet me in the sullen chill
meet me if you love me still