Do you want me to tell you where the
raindrops go when the sun shines bright and yellow busses are watery
sidewalk reflections occasionally destroyed by bright red rubber
boots?
Do you want me to explain deliberate
cruelties, large and small? Thoughtless words. Torture and war.
Poisons scattered without regard to outcome.
Do you want to understand that I have
not done enough good so far in this life? Shall I rest easy in my
discontent, knowing I never will because I value my own time too much
to give it away generously?
Do you want me to explain how children
are assigned parents and parents their children? Do you want to
understand how lucky accidents brought me to you and you to me?
Do you want to understand why sometimes
we hurt our children and they us and that, despite all that, as long
as we keep trying--pressing forward in our traces, leaving deep
footprints in the mud--we have succeeded if only in a small way? Small changes can grow great and buds turn to flowers and we wait for
the bloom that becomes us.
Do you want me to explain the
unexplainable, to know the unknowable or can we be content to sit and
rest in the uncertainties of life, side by side on that grand old
porch swing watching the flowers blossom, coaxing bees back home with
borage and buttercups, cajoling them into producing that yellow
sunshine that we will use to sweeten our tea while we watch the
reflections of yellow school busses knit themselves back into
something whole and recognizable and true?
Kelly Garriott Waite on Google+Labels: flash fiction, Trifecta Writing Challenge