Breathing Air
Beating Hearts
For T.L.C.

not in her circle,
she’s not in mine,
is there any point
in asking her the time

our clocks,
though the minutes are the same,
the hours are not just zones apart
but years apart, decades

miraculously though,
we occupy the planet
contemporaneously

able to shake hands, converse,
have coffee, dinner, sex or tea

can climb into bed together
when I couldn’t with Plato,
Sappho or Socrates

Sarah nor Mary Magdalene
Mary Queen of Scots
nor Count Leo Tolstoy

she and I for some reason
on planet earth together

to make what happen,
what difference
to have what impact
upon humanity, upon
human history

can chase butterflies in one field,
in one afternoon
swat flies in one same room

I am unable to
get into a boat
with Saint Peter


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
4:29 a.m. 22.12.07