Supplication

It was like a haiku moment.

I was walking along, just letting my mind wander, when I noticed the young oak which had been planted near the sidewalk.

A winter breeze waggled the leaves, and it was almost like they were beckoning to me. I paused to watch them, then realized that they reminded me of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting I had seen at the Dayton Art Institute.

As soon as I got home, I sat at the kitchen table, as I often did then, and started writing ... so I could preserve my impressions ... and share them with Phyllis. Somewhat later, thanks to the folks at The Christian Science Monitor, those impressions found a larger audience.

And here they are again:

SUPPLICATION

The oak

retains its leaves,

purple-palmed mittens

hanging out to dry,

waving in supplication,

inviting a closer look

that shuts out all

except those few

as painted

by Georgia O'Keeffe,

and then not purple,

exactly, but that

kind of purple

that was

her gift to us.

©

1996

(originally published in The Christian Science Monitor)

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Today's word:

waggled