seasoning

Sugar and scarlet grains of chili,

make a nice seasoning for the mild,

not-quite-apple taste of guava.

Much of life is appetite.

For the weathered stone

of temples and churches.

For yellow-feathered singers

clinging to the air root drapery 

dangling from the banyans.

For slap of wavelets

against river walls,

so like the timeless

sound of coupling.

And the memory of other,

plumeria-scented nights

-refreshed.