Poetry of Issue #7        Page 25

Turks & Caicos

Do not forget
The smell of honey
On the morning breeze,
The sound of palm fronds
Whispering.
Remind your feet
How heavenly walking can be
On soft sand, firmly packed,
That soothes as it holds you up.
Remember, most of all,
The bands of color so intense
You can scarcely believe them:
Cerulean sky touching
A horizon of marine-blue,
Then turquoise turning to aqua ripples,
And white foam glistening along the shore.
The airport will engulf you soon—
The crush of anxious bodies,
The closed tube and screaming engines
Of the plane.
Train your mind to come here
When a cold spring at home drags on
And the hard walls of buildings
Press in.
Take heart; summer is coming,
Even to New York.
In June, the sun will shine
Almost like today on Turks & Caicos.
A rainbow of blooms will unfurl as you walk,
And clover will caress the air
With the fleeting scent
Of honey.

  Jacqueline Coleman-Fried