Today’s tears
came unexpectedly –
as expected –
while Nanci Griffith sang
about love
tried and failed,
tried again.
“Once stilled by love he was bound to roll on by.”
It gets me every time.
Today’s laughter
came unexpectedly –
as expected –
from somewhere deep
all the way up
to my eyes
with a jaunty “womp womp”
from a loved one
whose world is buried
beneath 18 inches of fresh snow.
Today’s love
came unexpectedly –
as expected –
wrapped around
and in
and through
old friendship
strong enough to speak
when it’s easier to stay silent.
Today’s memories
came unexpectedly –
as expected –
in the pages of a journal
pulled from the wreckage
towns visited
foods savored
emotions evoked
twenty one years ago.
It could just have easily been
someone else’s journal
the distance
between now and then
uncrossable.
Tomorrow’s love
will come unexpectedly –
as expected –
from one
who reaches across
enters me
enters
my heart
blanketed
beneath 18 inches of freshly fallen snow
melting the small places
softening the wounds
ripening me
for what comes next.