A Bedouin Man

A Bedouin man isn’t certain 
whether joining a revolt was 
life’s proudest moment or its 
ruination. The object in your
pocket is a tracking device 
that just happens to make calls. 
Just perch the clock near the bed 
and put your phone on the stand 
and it will record your sleep 
patterns. Hello. Good night. 
The days are going so quickly. 
Perhaps we perceive quickness 
more in our busy lives than 
people did in previous centuries. 
Yesterday, Americans used 
their sizable advantage to run 
others ragged. We lay the child 
down into his bed and find 
each other under the sheet. 
Now with four arms, four legs 
and two heads, we circulate qi. 
Then the arm starts turning 
sideways in a gentle curve, tracing 
an S shape, the thumb heading 
up as the palm turns parallel, 
our bodies and souls parallel. 
Oh, the grief of separation. 
Don’t think, dear, stay here.

Credit

From A Day Like Today (Negative Capability Press, 2015) by Barbara Henning © 2015.