Crossing Sacred Lines

I met you long ago

Attending a stupid workshop on who-knows-what

You facilitated; I made mockery of it

We were strangers then.

But our kindred spirits sparked,

And you said I reminded you of your naughty sister

I laughed

We became fast friends, who laughed freely and got along easily.

We led diverging lives

Courted different circles of friends,

Grappled with differing needs and priorities.

But threads of shared interests and humour held us together.

I run away far

Seeking comfort in beckoning mirages and illusions

Knowing you were there whenever I answered the call of home

We became buddies along the way.

Our friendship endured the chasm of distance

From across the ocean, I spied your beard turning gray

And how you hated the dutiful wintry trips

I watched your fledgling kids labour to fly.

You shared the news of your family tearing apart and the devastation that followed

You let me in a little on your anguish, bitterness and guilt

You sought no comfort from me, I offered none

I nursed woes of my own.

We travelled far along our path, but never stumbling.

Through you, I learned to love home again.

I have watched you heal; your new smile leaving me unguarded.

We swam the warm bay waters and cooled under the leafy shades,

We strolled the leisurely greens,

And raced past the stinky wretched woods.

I started to live for our time together.

Still, I didn’t see this coming.

You are a good soul.

I even convinced another to give you a try.

What a fine job I did of it!

It wasn’t your fault really, that I stumbled and fell.

Perhaps the dizzying heights made me falter.

I blame the misty mountain air filled with echoes of vervet monkeys;

The still dampness where one can hear mushrooms grow;

The ephemeral sunrays making chase of the deluge across the valley below.

Perhaps it was the stars shifting

The fleeting eternity of your hand on my troubled knee

The pleasure of devouring crispy mushroom gills.

Our unbridled laughter as we sampled quail;

Could it be the ridiculous argument about usipa being the young of mcheni?

Or the silly insistence that the fine cupboard smelled of cedar?

Perhaps it was cumulative tender intimacy like a flower unbudding

I will never know.

I sat alone by the khonde sipping dredges of coffee while you slept.

Trying to makes sense of why an innocent touch of an aching knee troubled me so.

Vervets screeched and jeered above. 

I was conflicted; tormented.

My pious head filled with a silent rebuke,

While the body and mind led a rebellion

Did you sense my thoughts and the growing apprehension?

You seemed so at ease, while I twitched like our feline caller.

I fled from the lofty cottage feeling exonerated; my secret safe.

Little did I know, the line had been crossed.

Our alliance had etched a new path; our dalliance had just began.

We savoured a sweet ripe mango as its juices caressed our lips.

Trampling the softest kapinga under our thumping feet.

Sharing hilarious jokes of Dracula and majini

It was like medicine.

Let’s stand in ovation at our prevailed restraint.

Hold a moment! Haven’t I been here before?

Letting my best friend in on a kiss?

And how I barely made it through its highs and lows?

And how we are mates no more?

What of the embers of hurts that I fan and brood?

Will you catch me if I let go?

And come crushing to the yawning depths below?

Who will you choose to be? A friend? A lover? A foe?

Where do we go from here?

So much I want to say; so much I want to know. Yet, I dare not ask.

Even now, safely moored on an isle, I dare not.  

Our interests remain the same;

Oh, but how our needs still diverge! 

And yet, memories of a shared mangoey kiss hold me a prisoner.

A chance of a brand new dance between old friends; a daily petitioner.

One thing I know is true, our bond will never be the same again.