Real and Surreal

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