A draft as we near Thanksgiving
Funny, I can’t remember how it sounded,
but I still see the open-mouthed look,
blackened fillings, tongue thrown back
as if the gravel the world skins its knees on
were actually something softer,
more like platelets of fern and flower,
more like the wisps between my cat’s rosy toes,
more like a longer summer, or the time
my husband said late in the day,
Let’s try something different, and
brought me to Meadowland Park.
How the gloam made for indelible pictures
as he, bowing from arthritic hips, offered
me Queen Anne’s Lace, reminding me
what love looks like at the sunset
of a life having been worthy of living.
That I should live such a life!
That I should give such a life!
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
This poem was drafted during the November gathering of Write In Louisa. The theme was gratitude.
Posted in Katherine's Coffeehouse
