Monthly Archives: August 2022

We All Must Go Too

I remember when a daughter
magically became one year older
so that she could ride a horse
with her older sister.  

Such precise alchemy
occurs only on paper
when a pen writes one number
instead of another.

The rain will continue
to fall outside my window
and nobody will know
when the wand waved.

If one girl is brave enough
to step through her fear
and join her sister in an adventure
then we all must go too.

Unlock

I try to follow the inner workings of those exhibits
found in places where history is stored.  My eyes,
though, lose focus.  Shrieks of joy from children
delighting in balls bouncing and the turning of gears
while levers move up and down urge me on 
back to when I saw with purer vision.  I know that I too
once held my face to the glass placed between myself
and the larger mysteries of life that were duplicated
before me.  To some it has been given.  To others
it has not been given.  In which crowd do I find myself?
A long time ago someone handed me a set of keys.
I have yet to find the doors which each one opens.  
Perhaps I will wait until company arrives and together
we will unlock fate and hope.

I Hope You Feel Better Soon

Writes a daughter on a small note
in her beginner's handwriting
lines veering up then down
random letters capitalized
because a child sees important things
where bigger people fail to look. 

I do not remember 

what ailment or sickness she saw in me
which called her to pour forth care.
A cold.  A bruised bone.  A headache.

I do not remember.

I pasted the note in my journal
and now some two decades later
I come across her words
my mind tormented and anguished
by choices made though not my own
which I remember with each breath.

It has been twenty years for me
to begin to feel better soon.