The Visit

This afternoon I ate two slices
of crisp, sweet Peruvian ground apple
in a house among trees
in northern New South Wales,
Australia — how about that?

The newest god-daughter is now
taking steps and saying words.
‘Up!’ she says, and ‘No!’
She likes to scurry on her knees
outside, across the veranda
towards the trees. She also likes
Peruvian ground apple.

I’m wondering now if she
was conceived in Peru,
but I’ve forgotten the dates
when her parents were there,
and anyway I never could count.

And anyway it doesn’t matter.
She came from wherever
when the time was good.
Now she is 14 months old
and totally expressed.
Just watching her
is an entertainment.

She wrinkles her face
and cries a little when we leave
but refuses all kisses, just waves
goodbye to the back of the car
from her father’s cradling arms.