Hanlu

(Cold Dew)

To feel with clear intentions (Photo: Faye Sarras)

In each tendon, in every toe
In each finger, the world we know
The stuff some hold between the ears
Alone cannot bear the years
Nor flow from sources distant past
Nor kiss the sea, the coast at last
In all the body‘s full dimensions
All parts to feel with clear intentions.

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..