Wednesday, March 15, 2023

A First Draft


A friend took this picture. Someone I have known for a very long time, and hadn't seen for a very long time, too. She is in Paris, visiting her cousin, and next week she will visit her daughter, who is studying in England. She shared with me some questions the picture brought to mind, and I asked if she could send a higher-resolution version, toward its poem. And so it was.


FENÊTRE

for Tarek

 

 

there was rest in the rising

their breakfast made, his lunch

packed and him with it

 

the dishes waiting until

he’d made his way up the hill

out of sight

 

from the window she’d watch him

her hands clasped, her chin

atop them

 

the waddle of his body

she thinks, tired already

too early, too soon

 

now she waits

until she knows he’s gone

as if he were still working

 

still walking to work

still “with us,” as his sister says

of those who are no longer

 

this is the rest, she thinks

the better part of resting

when everything else is waiting

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