LOVABLE LABOR AND LILACS

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Yesterday, I had the pleasure – yes, the pleasure – of mowing this beautiful backyard of ours. I used our electric mower, which cruises sweetly and almost silently along , and it was an honest delight to see the smoothly trimmed grass when I looked back. It was labor, yes, but it was captivating labor, the kind I might gladly pay somebody to let me perform. I was almost disappointed when I was finished and there was no more green grass waiting to be smoothly sheared.

SHAKING LILACS
(about Shay M., 91, Blessings, CT, USA)
May 11, 2021

In May, he studies
the lilacs in his little yard
as they shake in the hushed winds
that springtime sends them.
He loves his lilacs, 
and they show their friendship 
by sharing their best ways 
of shaking as the minutes of the day 
dance along and he sits still, 
like a serious student, studying 
how bluish blossoms bring him 
ways to live and love.