On A Date Bed Poem by Leonard Fong Roka

At menarche,
Down the road to Dotama…
On my bare foot
That gloomy day, for god’s sake,
I whispered to Wils:
“In love we are…where there’s will
There’s a way
Along all oddities of life.
My girl, no rides as you may think,
On a bed of roses…
It’s not a bed of roses I give.”

She said:
“We no skylarking. And two heads
Are better than one with mature laying out.
My cup of honey is you. Together, every cloud
We see has a silver lining.”
And we kissed on and on…

She was clone a better stock
Of the bakerang clan
The sun never disbanded off Avaipa
With their inferiorty of the land.
As other clans see for joy; I,
For marriage of rearing.

“ Wils, as long as the clouds exist
You is mind. The sunshine
Of my morning brace, ”I said
With my fine works of caressing.

“See my hills and gulleys
Of precious stones and spices, ” I sang unto her,
“are bound for your womb,
My only candle in the dark.”

“And so it be, my love.”

“Yes, my flower in the sick bed.”

I cuddled her into sleep
Of brilliant pages of dreams
To the hopeful
Sunrise.