Poet 3 (Champinon Round)
Off Balance
The weight of her hand in mine,
the soft, focused movement and
awareness; as if her entire soul
was focused to the very tips of
her fingers as they interlaced
my fingers and brought me a
warmth, calm, and ease that
I've only felt as a child, as a
boy in the gentle summer air.
The glow of the sun on my skin.
The weight of school slacked off
for these mere months, like an
overheavy backpack teaming
with binders I could not wait
to retire into a dusty corner
of a forgotten attic never to
be seen again. Since those
early easy days, the weight
has steadily grown heavier.
Some days it's imperceptible,
a gram or two, a feather on
a stack of bricks. But some
days are multiple bricks. Some
days you get a year's worth of
weight on just one afternoon.
It's important to remember her
hands, the glow of summer, the ease.
It's so easy to forget these days,
to forget to be thankful for those days.
Don't forget the warm weight of presence.
Learn to dance even if you are off balance.
Cloud is my favorite Doodle Dot.