Love

Love

In the Danville Post Office,

Waiting, at first arms folded, foot tapping,

At the tail end of a lengthy queue,

Slowing of words, careful speech, couched in solicitude,

To the faltering girl at the counter,

(Which, upon seeing, unclenched my teeth),

I suddenly glimpsed it.

On the old Post Road, in hands,

Painstakingly guiding out of stumbles,

Providing strength and stability,

Freely given,

To one crippled by time, by illness,

I saw it there,

And my breath was caught away.

At Bonsall Park,

“You go first,” “I’ll help you,”

In words (and looks and attitude),

In the simplicity of a child, not always so wise,

It was very evident,

I was shamed by my own inadequacies.

I saw it in a Roanoak County Courthouse,

The judge speaking words,

“25 to life,” those killing words,

The father hugging his wayward son,

Encouraging smile masking tears,

It was there,

Challenging my understanding.

In the simple hands cuddling and comforting,

One squirming, noisy, disruptive infant,

At the Raleigh Church of Christ.

At the side of a bed at Jacksonville Hospital,

Wiping away sweat and spit from a no longer pretty mouth,

On a warm fall afternoon not many years ago.

At the funeral of Jeremy Coucher, in 1974,

His wife sobbing at his graveside,

The hand touching her elbow,

The soft words ruffling her brown hair,

I saw it there.