African Beads

You couldn’t hide the African sky

From beneath where he stood

The necklace of stars burning through

Cast down in stone and bone

A necklace of beads and pretty things

He bought at a public fair

Far from its birth

Far from its maker

putting a smile on the day

You couldn’t hide the African sky

You couldn’t have known

Years would pass

a thousand miles

time acts like  a friend

A necklace scrawled in a drawer

Forgotten for a time

No excuse he will only offer this

He didn’t know you at the time

He didn’t know you yet .

He’ll take the beads over diamonds

Why have stones when you can have stars

The ones that shine in your eyes

Derek Earl Houghton