Urban Jungle

I still remember the concrete perimeters where we walked,
tightrope-like
as if two feet down there were fires and floods that we mustn't fall into.

We were lions
I followed you through the jungle of your condo's parking lot;
A handful of carefully planted evergreens the only cover from the dangers of jungle highway 401.

I still see your small hands and long fingers, making shapes in front of your eyes;
your inner verbal monologue barely audible;
your head jerking from side to side.
I fight back the ingrained urge to say "nice quiet" during the moments you stop.

You are smiling.  That's all that matters.

~
I've been charged with the task of teaching you
how to put on this vast ensemble of
    social armor
when I can only haphazardly put it on myself.

So instead I teach you to climb trees
look for sleeping raccoons in high branches
and the difference between a jungle and a forest.

I help you twist bits of grass and leaves and fluff
and we leave tiny creations behind
"to feed the birds," you tell me.

You are immersed. I join you.
We are silent, enveloped by shadows and tree limbs and wonder.

~

One day I took you to the real woods;
a small patch, surrounded by city,
but a forest in your eyes.

We walked slowly; exploring.
You were quieter than usual.
You did not twirl your hair or your fingers.

Suddenly you looked up at me, your eyes searching:
"We are wild girls?"

Yes, love.  Yes we are.

~

I could have praised your language, then,
rewarded your "spontaneous" use of it with
a high five or a token; but.
               
I am not more your therapist than you are mine.

~

I didn't know how to tell you it was my last day.
How much language could you really grasp;
or, would you cry?

So I told you half the truth -"I'm going to Africa soon", I said.
"I will be gone for a long time.  I can't be your teacher. You will have a different teacher."

"You will miss me?" --- yes.

"You will see lions?" ----yes!

"And lionesses?" ---- yes, lionesses too.

"And cubs?!"  I laughed.  'Yes, I will see cubs, too."

You were satisfied.

~

Perhaps that is where you think I am, still.

Roaming the wilds of the Serengeti
amongst lions
climbing from tree to tree.

perhaps you dream that can one day be you, too;
and that way we'll both have escaped the confines of this
urban jungle.