Arbour

When love for life is a flight from reality,

then promote honesty and natural behaviour.

With the illusion of a happy make-believe world,

and a blooming wood to replace conflicts,

the mask of the carefree covered the boy’s eyes,

the arbour of clematis flourished, as a miscast actor.

His deep fear of tin artificiality

and hidden inner discord

kept him in essence seeking glycerine cedar soap

and chocolate-covered almonds in a gift box.

With both a pronounced sensitivity

and a strong need to be happy—

in the most natural way possible,

the boy defused problems by accepting

them as part of life and making the best of them.

Critical situations float harmlessly past him now,

while each song he sings bolsters the spirits of others,

nonchalant in the face of the repression.

Emily Isaacson