Everything belongs

Everything belongs to you:
The skater’s scrape,
the swinger’s bruise,
the quick escape,
the cunning ruse—
everything that’s of this place
that’s in your mind that’s on your face.

Everything belongs to you:
The schoolgirl’s cry,
the swimmer’s whoop,
the sad good-bye,
the social group—
everything that’s of this land
that’s in your mind that’s in your hand.

Everything belongs to you:
the dancer’s ache,
the player’s game,
the claimant’s stake,
the careful aim—
everything that’s of this world
that’s in your mind that you’ve unfurled.

Everything belongs to you:
The gasp that becomes the girl,
the girl that becomes the life,
the life that becomes what life
becomes for you, for her, for all.

The swinger is shared with the tree;
the swimmer is shared with the sea.



Adam Parker
May 2009