With Jesus Asleep
for Paul Anthony White

we're in this boat together,
my children, their mothers and me

any one can make it rock, can make it roll
attached to it and to each other
as we are, inextricably, irrevocably

we must be respectful of, as well as
towards each other, anyone able,
to make the boat rock, make the boat roll,
even able to make the boat capsize

what is true for me and my family
equally true for me and my nation
or for me and all humanity

in all these instances
I am as much a part of the whole
as the whole is part of me

intricately attached, intricately tied,
one to another


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
5:45 a.m. 28/07/07