Embrace on the Field

Drinking cider too tart
for my unsophisticated
tongue, I read her
words. Friend from far away
I had dared to imagine
I knew.

Her paintings ripe fruit
of women lined and
luscious, dripping scent
from the quiet pages,
filling suburbia’s blur with
whispers and tears.

I wondered if men who
fought the same war in
different arenas felt as I do.
She has been there,
as have I,
as many others in this war
women fight without ceasing,
undeclared, undecorated.

Yet her words, her pain and joy,
are piercing next to my
muted murmuring. Not that one
pain need ask for another’s
assent, not that one joy
outstrips a dissimilar bliss.
We hurt. We heal.
We repair those torn
who can be saved.

This woman, my friend,
my light into darkness,
has shown me her heart.
I know not what flower
of mine I can share.
I would grow a world’s garden
to let her know:

She is seen.
She is heard.
She is loved.

I haven’t dyed my hair in months. There’s remarkably little change at the roots. I guess I really was dying my hair its natural color. I do have a few wild white hairs at my temples. They don’t look grey to me. They look white, which is kind of cool. My hair has been a bit fuzzy, so I bought a colorless shine treatment to use tonight.

I always thought I’d dye my hair until I was fifty and then shave my head and let it grown back whatever color it truly was. I like the way it looks now, though I’m not thrilled with the way she cut it. I’ll continue growing it out and not dying it for now.

I had one task but before I could do more than start copying the file, they needed that computer. Then I showed my boss how to play something in iTunes. Other than that, I spent the whole day playing in Photoshop, Access and Publisher, so I would be learning something and at least look busy. I made a newsletter in which the main headline was, “Assistant Does Nothing; Boss Happy” and the secondary story was, “I Really Like Almonds.”

I don’t mind getting paid well to do nothing, but I want to have an impressive list of tasks that I’ve done so I can make a good case for them keeping me on past three months.