Recompense
When you came into this world,
we didn't know what we'd named you.
You came writing Chinese and Japanese
letters
before you ever went to school.
Your red skin, black hair and dark eyes
transformed into blonde curls
and orbs that mimicked deep sea blue,
forest green and ocean gray.
You painted a canvas once
that revealed your nature
that no one'd ever known: the Shannon
River in Ireland,
the Amber sap of trees,
the Tegele Mountains outside of Berlin.
We'd named you unaware that
you belonged to these formidable forces.
But you showed us,
in red & green, purple & blue.
Now you are in the depths
of a dark well no one wants
to climb down, except me—
clinging to its sides and hope,
I yearn to clasp you back
into the arms of the living
and the joy of an outdoors day:
in the mountains,
by a river, with trees.
Susan Beverly
Susan Beverly MLA is a full-time writer, artist and musician. The Poetry Salon is her home base for all things artsy, in Owings Mills, Maryland, USA, open to anyone interested in creative pursuits. Meditation, nature, hardcopy books, and justice & mercy are a few other past times. susanbeverly2003@yahoo.com