Neville

Essence

Essence

 

She smelled, almost of sunlight,

of saffron, of rain,

of sacred temples and of cathedrals ..

 

Yet she tasted of blueberries,

of sake, Egyptian cotton and coffee

and so very many other things besides ..

 

Including those sacred, freshwater

rockpools, our forefathers

once used to hunt and to bathe in ..

 

And boy, she could move, like all those

wild animals could move, once painted

by them, in red clay, on blue rock cave walls ..

 

Once she felt happy, like being wrapped

in summer, in winter before the feasting

began, amid the dancing and the downpours ..

 

She sounded back then, I imagine, like a

prayer, or a poem might sound, suspended in

amber and even today, I adore the essence of her ..