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

THE GREEN

We shared the scarcity

The borrowed cup of sugar

And clothes passed on

From house to house

Around the Green

Teeming laughing

Screaming children

Trolleys skates and hobbies

Running down the avenues

Fathers going out to work

In scorching heat

And biting cold

A life that took its toll

And Mothers ever present

Baking bread

In warm kitchens

Making ends meet

Out of the loaves and fishes

Of our limitations

The feeding of the multitude

Of life’s desires

Around the Green

Beyond the Green

And coming down the avenues
To home again and sound refreshing sleep

In the small rooms of our childhood.