The verandah

I’ve found a place where I can see
The closest thing we have to eternity.
I’ve found some space where curiosity
Can run free under the safety
Of a corrugated umbrella.
Beyond the river,
Past the trees,
A voice of an innocent calls out to me.
Throaty and hoarse she whispers faintly,
“cause-and-effect, cause-and-effect”.
On the verandah the world looks framed,
Confined
Displaced
Controlled
Tamed.
When in actual fact it has no name.
It can’t be spit polished
Or stay the same for too long,
Because things change over time,
Or become drained of everything
Good in them.

First published in Rabelais.