Now, what a surprise
to see you inside
after all these times we meet outdoors
and here you are to explore
the underneath workings of my computer desk,
and I feel concerned you are taking a risk
to be in here on the old carpeted floor
with nothing to eat, that I can see
and so I do wonder
how you came to be in here.
This is your second day of visitations
and watching me,
after I left you some water yesterday
and I tried unsuccessfully
to take you outside,
back to where your family play and hide.
Today
I decided to not touch you
again
until you know
I am no threat at all,
and I am just wanting you to be free.
While I ate my lunch
I watched you there
sun-baking beside my swivel chair,
and wherever I put my feet
I am checking continuously under my seat.
After some acquainting
down on my floor
today I decided to take a step back
and assist your survival
in a different way
by leaving you
fresh morsels of apple and carrot,
some lettuce and
strawberries
are down there too,
so I am above writing about you.
My idea is you are drawn to my friend
in her spirit energy,
as you are behaving just like she did,
so I have chosen a name
some-what like a twin.
If she was Poppy
and just loved the sun
and sat in the very spot
that you have begun to enjoy every midday
when a brief phase of time
allows the sun to warm a small gap
of sun-lit carpet as warm as my lap.
I now call you Polly, my little Skink friend,
I hope that you like
fruit-salad
and live to tell
your family outdoors
how you came to be here,
and that one day soon I will help you outside
in my warm cupped hands so you will survive.
Or will I call
the natural history museum,
where they feed the frogs
and red-back spiders,
and downstairs
there are taxidermy of
gliders.
Hello, I am seeking advice
on how best to save Polly
who has weaved through a brick wall
and now finds herself
indeed very small,
hiding under the printer,
behind heavy timber files,
she has wriggling tricks
which may be her demise.
Or not.
I wouldn’t say
you came to play with my friend Poppy
who shares her light all
around
and draws you closer to this ‘carpeted ground’.
Here is a small lizard
who came to be visiting ‘her spot’
so far inside,
when it is eleven weeks
since she died.
I am grateful for the same playful energy
and honey-colored faces
here enjoying the warmth in my backroom spaces.
If she found her way in,
I hope she finds her way
home
and I will cherish
the
mystery of these amazing visits
and bless sweet Poppy and
the Polly lizard.
Yesterday I met the little
garden skink
who lives under my desk.
Only God knows how she came
to be there.
Written on September 26,
2013
Photo: James McKinnon, Australian Geographic
