Shadows Nine

Wise sage in my garden a few years ago.

***
Shadows Nine June 3, 2018

It all helps. When I scorched the bread,
turning the heat to broil instead of turning
it off, my son comforted me. “Michael 
Jordan said in his life he’d missed more baskets
than he’d hit, and he was the greatest
basketball player of all time.” Then Wesley
called, my very first love. At twelve, our
love was simple. He brought me a gardenia
every day. We held hands and were happy.
Now he tends his wife who has dementia,
and he can’t seem to answer my letters.
He doesn’t know why. I said, “This is
wearing on your spirit. Don’t be too hard
on yourself.” At the coal ash meeting
we learn of a study to test the wells around
the landfill that holds six million tons of 
poison. We have new members joining us 
from another local group. These are gifts 
to keep me going. I am always behind
in my daily chores, but we eat well
and admire our happy tomato plants.
The weeds return with every rain, but
the hydrangea and the daylilies bloom.
The good in my life defies all logic as 
usual and touches my inward soul like
a softly falling rain.