MOSS ON PLUM BRANCHES

James K. Baxter

Moss on plum branches and

A soft rain falling - no other house

Spread out its arms around me

As this has done - I go
From here with a gap inside me where a world
Has been plucked from my entrails - fire and
Food, flowers and faces
Painted on walls - the voices of two friends
Recalling the always present paradise
We enter and cannot remain in.

James K. Baxter (1926 - 1972) Nova Zelandia