SAVANNA IDYL
They say when you’ve got
something beautiful inside you,
you should display it,
and I suppose that’s why Savannah
opens its doors
with the hospitality of the south.
But there’s a shyness in our hearts
born of fire,
a distance in eyes that could see well
but have high clouds in them now,
trying to remember a face.
I say to myself,
now wake up, girl,
don’t want you looking like that,
and she smiles warm and amber.
That’s the south.
People don’t turn old here,
they wear pearls,
and don’t retire their manners.
Maybe that’s why people come.
They call it climate for an excuse.
I kind of call it love,
something that’s shared from a garden.
Voices that are soft rather than shrill,
and a heartfelt respect for others.