To sit among you on this summer day

is the highest honor;

to look at you is another ecstasy;

touching you,

and your release of the essence of yourself--

the essence which stays on my fingertips for a long time

and is in my memory forever--

visitors flitting here and there,

bees and butterflies

and other tiny flying things;

like me, they don’t stay long.

But time is not the measure, for

what can be captured in a few brief moments

can be safely tucked away

for a winter’s day

or a summer’s night dream.

© Anitra Redlefsen, 1993

"Gazania"
Anitra Redlefsen
Color photograph, 2001