SHE

Shoals of hair, coil on coil,

Salmon cheeks, walnut eyes,
Fair of face as the planter’s daughter
Even Aphrodite sighs.

Never learned how to frown,
Mocked misery at the gate
Calls the sun to rise each morning
With smile no queen can imitate.

Wise beyond her tender years
Inbuilt instinct for the game
Of otherness of other people 
Of sameness of the same.

Parents have no claim on her
One off child of grace
Heart of gold, soul of silk,
Sister bright of stars in space.

I recall the magic of tongue
I remember the lip and the cup
She taught me all I know of life
And that water never flows up.

And she believes in life and love
And the power of absolute trust,
Yet still she factors in the fact
That an iron gate is the promise of rust.