I suppose these branches were weak,
and so many trees needed pruning,
and we really needed the moisture,
and God has his own sense of timing.
So often we complain
about how long things take
and we don’t like to wait
but then listen to us when
it all
happens
at once.
The Ice Storm
I had never seen ice like that.
I had never seen branches so fat
and so many limbs, falling to the ground,
so many repetitions of that crack-and-shatter sound.
So many trunks and wires and sticks
all buried in snow, to add to the mix.
The Downtown Library
We went to the downtown library.
It’s much bigger than the one
down the street from our house,
and likely thrice as fun.
Four times as many stacks,
and magazines in racks,
and a space-age check-out scanner.
I can’t wait to go back!
Out of Place and Time
A place for everything and everything in it’s place.
Where do I put the bag of baby clothes
I washed and folded and packed and labeled
the day before we heard about their miscarriage?
There is no place for that.
We have no room for grief.
I’ve never seen a shelf for this sort of thing
in a house in a magazine
or in a book called “Interior Design for Dummies.”
For it is wisdom, not fashion,
that remembers that life involves death
and needs a time as well as a place for everything.
Tomorrow’s Eyes
How can I look straight into my child’s eyes
and think about my work, my plans?
Is it because I think
“Oh, you’ll still be here tomorrow.”
Life is too fast.
I hold her fast to my shoulder and look beyond her.
Tomorrow.
Does she know what tomorrow is?
Or is she only beginning to know herself?
She herself is tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s writer, tomorrow’s chef, tomorrow’s engineer, tomorrow’s mother…
And so I see that I am one small mother of tomorrow
so of course I look straight into my child’s eyes
and think about tomorrow.
When I’m Done With This
I’ll do that when I’m done with this.
I’ll just write it on my list.
Might as well give it a hug and a kiss
and not even say “keep in touch,”
but only express “you will be missed.”
Louder
Louder every morning,
the birds sing in the trees.
They are louder than the chickens,
and that puts my mind at ease.
And they’re louder than the footsteps
that go across my ceiling
and they’re louder than my worries,
and that gives me a good feeling.