June 2017
I live in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a coastal town north of Boston where I was born and raised. Salem State University is close by and I taught English there for thirty years. Since retirement, I have joined two choruses, one of which is a group of hospice singers. I have published two books of poems The Question of Rapture (Mayapple Press) and What Diamonds Can Do (Word Tech).
Going Home
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
Today, we read a Psalm together.
The Heavenly Father offers us long-term protection.
My scientist-husband says,
That’s comforting.
He also says, It’s not religious,
curious why no mention of Jesus or salvation.
All these years, he’s never referred to Jesus
except when I scrape though an intersection
on a yellow light or when the hammer deflects
and mashes his thumb.
Who knew he’d be comforted by the beauty of words
called up over millennia? by looking to the Bible
even as he hears the resolute thump of death’s march?
Now he tells me, I want to go home.
I tell him he is home. Here, on this couch,
in this living room. This is your home—here with me.
A nod of the head, a grudging agreement,
but that’s not the home he longs for.
© 2017 Claire Keyes
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