Saturday, October 7, 2017

She Knew




This poem was written about my mother-in-law.  She treated me and my sister-in-law to a trip to the South of France after her cancer was in remission.


She Knew

In her cool Merino wool slacks
She knew

Buy it she smiled with glee
and so the gracious mahogany breakfront
sat before us

Lonely in the corner
dusty, its rounded glass doors peering at us
like eyes through sunglasses

She knew

Buy it she said,
and the translator we hired
to guide us through Arles
negotiated with the elegant owner
of the antique store on the River Rhone

Buy it she said
and she waved her hand
at all the ways I could think
why it was an impossible purchase,
fretting over the logistics of a France to USA shipment

Buy it she said
And I did.

And we toasted the acquisition
over rose wine in fine crystal

back at the home of the translator

Who understood.

Buy it she said
And she knew

That nine months later she would be gone
leaving us to celebrate life
dinner after dinner
year after year
generation after generation
with laughter and love
along with the

lonely
dusty
once-forgotten
breakfront.

She knew.