Someone's Heart

On the equinox
as the world shakes
we are sent a gift
from a Japanese woman
I have never met -
her 13 year old son

it is like receiving
someone’s heart

this beautiful boy
arrives in our home
with one suitcase
in his hand and
stacked around him
are invisible bags
containing a mother’s worry -

look after my boy

we take him on
walks in the bush
showing him
crashing waterfalls
and cave tunnels

although he cannot
speak much English
he jumps on the trampoline
with my boys for
you do not need
words to play

as dusk settles
and shadows grow
they flip and laugh
inside, we check the news
again and again

the Japanese Prime Minister
visits Trump as the
third-rate minds in Washington
box themselves into a corner
and I know the boy’s mother is
seeing it all

the next day they
feed eels in the creek
ride bikes up the road
clamber up a hill to
watch a pink sunset

we find him sometimes
on the back lawn
looking out at the hills
trying to take it all in -

we leave him alone
to try

all over the world
people are doing the same —
staring at this new reality
unbelieving

this morning we said
our last goodbyes
between rain drops

tomorrow his mother
gets her heart back

the trampoline sits quiet now
the boys have lost their playmate
a week is a long time to drink in
a different world and
a short time to change the
world order

but they have done it
we just have to live in it

x

Brydie