Setting aside a mask, or several

she plays, as when a child

pressing against

the beaten bronzed air

stroking the shiny surfaces of afternoons

as they drift;
finds and picks out from faded grass

or from between the leaves

of now shelved books

the different gifts

for the ones she loves, kneels
and hands up to them, with no words

their four-leafed presentations.

*Taken from http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/i-wish-id-written-this.html
The artwork here is also by Linda Stevenson, inspired by Cavafy’s “Ithaca”. Linda lives in Melbourne