What can I say... I was riding my bicycle by the river, and the world was glorious... until I stopped at a coffee shop before heading back up Linda Vista Road to my neighborhood. I sat alone at a table near the sidewalk and watched people pass. A mother, holding her daughter's hand, suddenly pulled back away from the curb. I saw what had startled her when I got up to resume my ride. Sorry about the gruesome picture, but the poem wrote itself as I rode the rest of the way home. I'm glad I got the picture earlier of the snails kissing, so I could end with that.
“Oh... Sweet Jesus,”
she said
softly,
sucking in breath.
The child, alarmed,
said, “But
it’s only
a rabbit, Mom.
The clump of brown
smashed flat
beside
the edge of sidewalk,
silent witness to fate,
was all.
The Mother stooped
and said,
“Listen, Child,
Don’t ever say only
when anything dies...
Feel hurt.
1 comment:
Love todays poem. Thanks
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