A Mostly South African Recipe In Author Notes

          
     
       < A Memory Of Past, Present, Future>    
     
     
Raymond, written across      
a box, on my book shelf    
-nothing fancy    
just black permanent marker    
on an old plain cardboard    
shipping box    
that had travelled 9 lives    
before this    
Had to open the box    
took time to it    
breathed it in    
Cut through the sealing tape    
Lifting a side    
found a dried snake skin,    
a pair of oven mits,    
reams of paper    
all with letters    
written long-hand      
in black permanent marker    
     
The oven mits had baked      
-baked more delectable foods    
than most people      
could fit into a century      
each burn mark      
bleeding a story untold    
each worn thread, paper thin      
spoke of having packed      
a different cookie tin    
That dried, delicate, dark      
snake skin    
spoke seven languages and fifteen      
dialects    
in the letters    
-oh the letters    
were a hand me down    
they contained    
a special "melktert" recipe    
and instructions for the moon    
     
I'll share the recipe,      
I don't have permission to share    
instructions for the moon