I am

I am…

I am the solitary boat drawn up safely above the waterline;
when not out fishing for answers to ultimate questions.
I am the mother figure all cling to during the storm;
a safe pair of hands and loving harbour of arms.
I am the obedient daughter who walks the Salt Path;
coping with the melancholic care of the chronically ill.
I am the little girl who learnt to draw with her father;
who was inspired by the impressionist movement.
I am the painter who mixes jewel bright primaries
or earth-toned colours directly on her canvas.
I am the student who finds affinity with German Romantics
and the words of Merleau-Ponty and Nietzsche.
I am the reader of books by Simon Schama,
Fredrick Franck and the uncanny Dylan Trigg.
I am an eclectic lover of poetry from Maya-Angelou
to Wordsworth and of opera, particularly Rusalka by Dvořák.
I am the rocks steadfast against the fury
which we should bring down on those that desecrate our planet.
I am an insignificant grain of sand on the beach more numerous
 than the unsustainable human population.
I am a child of the Earth, that perfect blue orb suspended in the sky;
encapsulated in that iconic NASA image which still shapes my life.
I am the light shining in the darkness; illuminating science
and instilling awe and wonder in my pupils.
I am the bent and wisen trees withstanding the winds of change,
with deep-seated intertwining roots buried in the humus.
I am Anam Cara, soul friend and seeker after those with whom
my quantum of stardust is entangled.
I am the driftwood, left to float abandoned
but still willing to risk it all just one more time for love.
I am the flotsam tossed by life's events but not the ghost netting
or Barbie pink microplastics ensnaring man and beast.
I am a woman of affinity with the ocean, slave to time and tides;
whose wish is to sail to foreign places and paint in outer space.

I am Martine