I ONCE WAS YOU

and so
in time to come
I will become

your ancestor
someone you will know
nothing of. .  .

I will fade
be
a mere name

if remembered
at all
a footnote in your history

maybe survive
as a photo
locked into my present

as you are
locked into
your future

all you may know
is that
once I was

a stepping stone
to you
becoming the who you are

you as unknown
to me
as I to you

know only
that we shared
the same smile

and loved how
sunlight felt so
good upon our skin

Coming home in the car from the village shop down a narrow country road
I got stuck behind a school bus which had just pulled in before a bend (so I couldn't pass it)
It was letting off a passenger
It was a little wee girl all on her own
She got off and then started to walk down this little lane
On her back she had this big school bag
And the school bag was almost bigger than she was
I thought "All that world knowledge weighing down on her poor mind
Being told to learn and memorise it
And that her whole future depended on it
I wondered would she lose herself along the way
Them emphasising the importance of it
And the insignificance of her"...
I wondered "Would there be anything of her left after it ?".

PRAYER
( for Rexanne )

The tree
lifted its arms

to the sky
and prayed for hours.

It offered up
all its leaves

that lay at its feet
like a woman

stepping out of
a yellow dress

birds came and sang
in all its branches

as if they were leaves
of living song.

As we left
it wore a sunset

and the birds
had become

stars.