Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A Thousand Apologies

It has been intentional. My silence - the necessity of which was painful because silence is not my forte. 


Since December, I have remained in Turkey and done my best  to adjust to daily changes in schedule, mindset and spirit. I have a multitude of stories to tell and equally bountiful thoughts to reflect upon.


But this is not the post for that. 


I will instead share a brief poem I wrote yesterday while sitting in a small coffee shop in the middle of New Jersey suburbia. Weekdays, there are few patrons in this particular cafe. Yesterday happened to bring in a mother and her barely 1 year old daughter. The Mother, eventually preoccupied with her sandwich and latte, allowed the little girl to lull herself in and out of sleep while steadily gripping the set of keys her Mother relinquished moments ago. 


However adoring of babies, toddlers or children you may be, we have all been victims of the temper-mental screams and colics rendered forth by miniature people in a disturbingly magnanimous way. This little girl was not that sort. She was particularly precious in her self-adoration and the whimsical noises she uttered spontaneously. In fact, she offered a soothing melody of chirps, giggles and sighs, all of which hummed pleasantly in the air between us. 


So I wrote:


A child sits
Babbling songs of 
wonder. Contemplating calmly
No concerns.
Strange language of musical
Sound and honesty.
She possesses not 
The words, but the emotions are 
Effortless. The sentiment,
Veritable. 
She is the cherub she sees.