#507 - makes me an innocent

22.v.21

507

2.139

makes me an innocent

 

under canvas

not yet dawn though tools glint

board on the wall

now a shack, not mine

but bring respect and I admire

 

at the front counter

I am asking which way

…into another

wordlessly pointed out the back door

I am tiptoeing over sleeping dogs lie

wishing not to step on tails

wake the tribe

…nor belief

neither custom

 

and through the women’s part

a purdah of nearly nakedness

of tasks before first light

 

among them waiting

not for one like, but for me

and I, too, saying hold your horses

pitch all in with

 

my guide and she is willing

breasts ready firm to the work

the willingness becomes a want

I am a young man then

but there isn’t the word elope

would love to have my babies

just like that

inklings of love

of how we came to be

lips moist a little parted

as one word would do

 

no sun to rise

outbrights that smile

and only just now sleep

we all were

 

forget the undiscovered shames

monsters we will be  

 

makes me an innocent again

tomorrow I’ll invent the wheel

later we’ll have fire

 

a tryst for trust

all eager unknowing

 

what tragedies are to befall?

it’s often I rise to another world

and day like a life stretching ahead

where each must answer the call

if waking comes too late