To Update You On My Life Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

To update you on my life,
While sitting here on this bench,
Where you left me in the past,
And would not want to hear from me.
I am now a living free soul of the world,
I have grown to be the tall gum tree,
With the crown I saw through the window,
That beckoned me on to a future of hope.

My leaves are green and shiny in the rain,
As they did when you saw me years ago,
When you asked me to join you in a dance,
When the car hooted to our rhythms,
For your knees had touched the stirring wheel,
Making us laugh the laughter of lovers,
Who make out in cars not theirs,
In times that let their voices,
Ring out into the sky above,
Making us know we were none,
Of the nuns and priests we saw,
And learned from at our school.

I look back and see you young,
Eager to love and follow me everywhere,
For it was young love, so pure,
So ready to fulfill itself,
That it fell full flat on the ground,
Never to be picked up even by the birds.
That would fly and put it on the trees,
For the world to look at and nod,
That it has happened even to us.

To update you on my life,
I have become a lover of life itself,
Not of humans as such for that is real,
The feeling has dried and truths have come,
To look at me in the eye,
And say now the time has come,
To go down the winding road to the trees,
For this is where it all started,
Your fumbling with zippers that was endless,
Letting me wish you were wiser,
And knew what to do at the right time.

Where I stood I now walk on proudly,
Talking to the world with a louder voice,
More like yours when it broke,
For your baritone was my pride,
For I longed to hear it always.

I have grown to know this about life,
That it is not how it sounds or looks,
Not how it feels and smells,
But how it goes into truth,
Even with the blindest eye,
Of those who carry it in their hearts.

To update you on my today,
I go back to our past long ago,
And search for your words of truth,
And find them intact not loose.
For that would break my heart.
To know you were not really there with me.
For mine is a continuing dream,
That heals me with its truth.