Numbers

th

Fifty odd years ago

I find

Six dining room chairs

Made from humble oak

In the crowded basement

Of a secondhand store

In Kenosha Wisconsin

They accompany me

To five different houses

A sixth chair left behind

When it cracks in half

In house number three

 

Four children of my heart

Sit on these chairs

All through their childhoods

And even today

Now their own children

Sit on them too

 

They are not new

These six oak dining room

Chairs

When I pick them out

From myriad others

I wonder

Where    when

Were they created

And by whom

They deserve noble stories

Of grand houses     mansions

But no     they are only

Humble oak

I envision them in a home

Where there is love

Where they surround

A beautifully dressed table

Laden with favorite dishes

Prepared by loving hands

But how to explain

The crowded basement

Of a secondhand store

In Kenosha Wisconsin

 

The chairs come with a

Table

It too from humble oak

With five extension leaves

That make me feel ecstatic

I stuff everything into the back of

Big Blue

My loyal station wagon

Carry them home

All for the price of

Twenty-five dollars

 

Holiday     birthday

Ordinary day dinners

Are eaten off the table

Homework cried over

Papers scattered across its

Top

My children travel the years

Sitting on these chairs

Around the table

Legs grown longer     appetites stronger

Until they leave     come back

Leave again

While he and I

The chairs     the table

Remain

photo credit

 

Pain . . .

angel-sky-cloud-shape-37064137

. . .  you enter uninvited

You disrespect boundaries

You invade sacred spaces

Many questions

Surround you     Pain

Mysteries     too

Pain     you are a creator

Of feelings

I feel you

When I look at a photograph

Of a starving child

Her eyes have become

Too large for her face

Deep sadness leaks

Through the camera’s lens

Into my heart

 

Pain

You cross borders

With no visa

You enter the bodies

Of living beings

You linger

You vanish

You invade our minds

Pain

Our thoughts feel

Your presence

Are able to multiply

Your effects

Upon us

Until we learn

To take control

Of your intentions

For thoughts follow you

Pain

Down the corridors

Of time

 

As for me

I welcome you     Pain

You teach me to understand

The pain of others

To know empathy     compassion

To love this world

That lives with so much pain

I can deal with you

Pain

Take you for what you

Are

Lessons for my life

Not easy     Pain

Soul work never

Is

photo credit