Buy A Donkey

Buy-A-Donkey; now say it quickly in a plummy English accent

Image © J Kettle

for gifting your precious time

for sending the location

for driving, for your being

for the meals, the laughs

for sharing your vast and deep mind

for the silly things, the pretty things

for being a sight to behold

resplendent in colour

in glory, in light, in grace

for the words, the conversation

the thinking, the unmaking

of mind and thought

exploring ways of being

of living, loving, surviving

thriving, learning, growing

for the plants and the flowers

the trees and shady bowers

the ponds and frogs

the mountain and the sea

the books and the bees

the lessons innie taal

the coffee, the meals shared

for your ever seeing heart

and your quiet, tender soul

for the roads and paths to tread

for the journey illuminated

and with meaning reborn

for the manifest, beautifully manifest

for the sorrows and pains shared

for the space gently held

for every thought and a thousand prayers

for being always ready for a fight

for the endless lines of text

the words, the invites and the declines

for being indifferent to what I love

for making a day, eternity

for the gifts and treats

rich and precious

healthy and sweet

for the moments and their ripples

for snuggling in my mind

in word and deed

for the encouragement and fandom

for making plans and sleeping in too late

for silence and pondering

for everything I can say here

and for all that is beyond the stars

for being you, exactly

perfectly, as you are

and these 49 lines don’t say what Neruda would in two;

‘In you is the illusion of each day.

You arrive like the dew to the cupped flowers.’

XII, Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair, Pablo Neruda, 1969

Buy A Donkey is a tribute to The Muse.

© Jesh Baker for Oppi Stoep 2023, All Rights Reserved