MOTHER AND CHILD (Adoration in Lagos)

In her left arm
A baby rests

Silent

In front of the Blessed
Sacrament

In her right hand
The flimsy pages
Of a Bible

Blow back and forth
Under the force
Of an electric fan

Relieving the humid
Hot air

The child reaches up
To touch her face

The mother smiles
And God is pleased

BOUND (Tanzanian Twilight)

Sunset in the dust-rise
Of the cattle coming slow
Across the desert plain

Before the herdsman
With his son and mother

Bound

From the stream returning
Past the silence of the grinding mill
Turned off

A whisper in the air

To the fire
Those dotted fires

Spread out and rising
To the falling of the night

Pink to purple haze
Then dark…

This evokes a longing

It  has wedded me
My heart to them forever
At home and quiet

This unified motion of grace
The smile upon their face

Return

I will return

To the dust

Of the dry season

Kicked up in the air

By grazing herds

And playful children

Delighted

With open eyes

Wide smiles

Voices that tickle

The heart

With laughter

To the river

That refuses

To give up its

Waters to drought

The trees that thrive

And those that

Simply survive

And the scent

Of jasmine

In the air of night

And the stars

Of the dark sky

That reach to the touch

Of the gentle and the humble