Micro-Tale (The Hobo)

Micro Tales (2) x 3

Beige

Lights flash by the window

I know them, and they barely register.

A familiar hacking cough disturbs.

Tinny announcements are ignored

By my numb mind.

My beige life,

Clatters in time with the carriage –

Clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack,

Day after day.

I need colour…

At the next station, she steps into my life.

.

.

Watermelon 

There is something satisfying,

When the seed you spit, lands perfectly

On the shoulder of your detractor –

Unbeknownst to them.

Is not the day a little brighter?

The juice a little sweeter?

The colour more than watermelon?

The future seems promising,

The past… Further past…

The joy of simple revenges.

.

.

Red

As long as she can remember

Her view from the hillside cottage

Had been Argassi’s terracotta rooftops –

Down to the turquoise Mediterranean.

This has been her anchor.

She was born here,

She grew here,

She learned here,

She loved here,

She taught here,

And she gave here.

Now she is returned to the soil…

to become part of here.

Micro Tales x 3

#1

Blue




Broken glass litters the floor.

As I hug my daughter against my shattered heart.

I feel her warm tears.

We sit huddled against the refrigerator door.

All this breakage...

She’ll want to come back to us again…

.

.

.

…I’ll probably say yes...










#2

Green




The sun is a pale disc.

The fog bank moves in from the South.

Everywhere is grey and shrouded,

Except the grass beneath my feet.

It remains green for me - 

even when she’s not here.







#3

Orange




Marigolds

Strung in long chains

Drape from balconies and across pergolas

A hubbub of voices

A riot of colour

An extravaganza of flavours

A painted elephant

A sacred fire

Two souls are joined

I am Dead (Micro-tale)

Copper pennies closed the eyes.

Hands folded casually on the chest.

A new suit, ready for travel.

I look upon my body - my vehicle.

It had carried me through life;

I had learnt almost everything -

I had loved almost everybody -

I had seen almost everything.

I'd lived, I'd loved... I'll live again.