USA

Mariannepolo@aol.com

Across the Courtyard


All day yesterday it rained,
then night hardened the rain
into tiny stars of ice
and packed the houses in snow
as if to ship us off,
and now the sun is burning
all its sparklers at once.

Across the courtyard
by the door, I see
a toddler on a sled
waiting for the miracle
of his mother skipping down
the steps in a slippery dance,
one of her balancing acts.

She kneels down and puts
the red glove
back onto his right fist,
then folds him away
in her arms. Soak it all up,
marvelous creature of instinct,
store it inside your heart

for one of those moments
you cannot yet imagine,
when a vague longing
will take you over
like the craving for a food
whose name you do not know,
something that has

summer and winter in it,
sunshine and snow, its texture
at once cool and warming -
a food without color or shape
that tastes of childhood
and reminds you
of your mother's embrace.

© Copyright 2001, Marianne Poloskey.
All Rights Reserved. Printed By Permission.