Nivel de Realidade

See, no orange
at the treetop hangs
lemons, plums
all fruits the same
it’s the trunk
that holds
our conscious frame.
Clever limbs
leave the skin
caressed by sun
bathed in mist
omitting storms
by wind kissed
awakened not
in those heights
where timbers grow
but from the depth of slumber
touched by the roots below.

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