Of Koutoubia as confident
In its proofs as

Mathematicians are

And the accidental harmonies

Of Djeema el F'na

Falls this -

The shadow of a sudden absence

A distant dialogue with others

Closer now than I

As she begins

To pack her heart to move

Away from here, and now

And me

If, as the poet weaves,

"Love is as fluent as oceans' water"

Then

A tide is quietly turning

Beaching on some distant Scottish shore

A mermaid's purse

A chaos of uprooted kelp

All I could offer with an open heart

I have:

A closed garden

The High Atlas obscured by cloud

And the all too visibly fading

Flowers of longing