DREAMER

Whenever and wherever he saw pictures of palms
always always without fail he knew he would one day
live only in places where those trees can stay alive...
the Arkansas Boy who hadn’t been out in the world
and had never seen a palm tree except in a hotel
and on regular monthly trips to far away places...
to Egypt and Tripoli and Singapore and California
when the postman brought the world in living color...
the National Geographic with the African warriors
aloof, elegant, standing on one leg like regal storks...
always always without fail he knew he would go to see
for himself what they could see out there on the veldt.