To have, to be or to do

by T.P. Wilkinson / November 17th, 2019

Cut the cord
umbilical
from floating
some gloating
o’er the helpless essence
they have made
into the cold arrives.
But with some words
biblical
furless nature
in stature gains
a separate scream
from a mother’s pains.
Distinguished
hands and feet
not paws to reach
lips and tongues
not jaws for speech
After crawling
taken stance
to school with it
make it dance.

T.P. Wilkinson, Dr. rer. pol. writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is author of Unbecoming American: A War Memoir and also Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa. Read other articles by T.P..

This article was posted on Sunday, November 17th, 2019 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.