Up A Gum tree
for Felicity

you should hear the dogs
along Kemp Road yelping
a fight going on
though it's over in an instant

where are you located
on this rock, our nation's capital
where are you upon planet earth

easily you could have been Russian,
Polish, from The Philippines
or from Australia

additionally you and I
could have lived and died
centuries apart

instead we are on one island
breathing as the wind blows
as the world turns

hearts beating two drums one time

we take for granted
being alive and well at once
our ability to play instruments
in one same orchestra

it is special, our being contemporaries
witnesses of world events,
events at home

contributors simultaneously
to history, to one world story

our hopes are joined
for a better world

our hearts ache with similar fears
as tides rise and fall
as prices rise and fall

how special that you can read
a poem I write and in person
offer praises

this is for me, not to be taken lightly
or taken for granted

to be able to embrace, to create
a circle of warmth with arms is holy
not to be thrown away

like Kleenex we spat gum in
to get rid of

blue still or pink or yellow
but without a bit of sugar
left to draw out


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
11:07 p.m. 17.03.08