A Poem: Treasures

Treasures.

I will put them in my kete.
And I will be rich,
with a wealth of blossom.
The flushed cheek of dawn,
and kiss of sun.

Memories,
I’ve been too hungry
to put anywhere,
and dreams too unformed yet,
for shape.

All the residue,
now melted down,
and the elements
of future possibilities,
carried safe in this basket of flax.

Yes, nature’s provision
and the patient weaving
of another’s hands,
whom I shall never meet,
has given me a forever gift.

Isn’t that always
the way with treasured things.
Passed down,
prepared with prayer,
anointed with the love they come with.

Like the blossom on the tree
appearing every year,
the sun’s rounding visit,
this remembrance of things that
disappear to yet return.

We keep them in our kete.
We take them out to hold them,
and are held again.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
17 April 2019