Noel Canin

For Anat

Image in a dream -
She is hurled from a cliff
to batter the rocks below.
One hand shudders.
She knows it is her own.
Veiled in mist, a rider comes from the waves.
Neither knows if he is there to help
or harm her.
Past present future
tumble in on the same wave.

In the morning,
A crop of seashells
edge the tide in white and pink
and children will come a-gathering.
Life and death go on forever.

Sunflower in jug on table.
A mother feeds her child.
They hum together
in single satisfaction.

In a flat across the city,
old age has wrapped its arms about them.
He can no longer walk home,
and she forgets her way
in the spaces of their home.
Cheri and Cherie for sixty years,
an old love travels between them.
Life and death belong together.

All time no time. Funny old time.
A fly in the heart of the orchid flower.