Birthday at Tatum Park--By Isha Wagner--New Zealand

Birthday at Tatum Park

a chilly August windless blue sky day

and the elegantly served afternoon tea

of Earl Grey and English Breakfast

with silver pots and fine bone china

gladden the eyes glazed with cataract

and distracts the minds from rheumatic limbs

later we walk amongst the statues of trees

planted by settlers over a century ago

the camera in my hands awaits to capture

the face of a child of seventy-five this day

pinched, wrinkled, thinning bright white hair

with aloof but thick knowing eyes

lens pointed to immortalise the nostalgia

please, she says gently, don't

I look so different from how I feel

her remark astounds me

I put the camera away and

leave this moment alone

Isha Wagner is a New Zealand poet. She has resided in many countries including Iceland, Libya, India, and Australia. She read some of her work at the VIII International Poetry Festival held in Granada, Nicaragua, in February 2012. She has had three collections of poetry published.