PAD Challenge 11

How to Love


After stepping into the world again,
there is that question of how to love,
how to bundle yourself against the frosted morning—
the crunch of icy grass underfoot, the scrape
of cold wipers along the windshield
and take what the day brings.
What song to sing down an empty road
as you trudge out on your morning commute?
And is there enough in you to see, really see,
the three wild turkeys crossing the street
with their featherless heads and stilt-like legs
in search of a morning meal? Nothing to do
but hunker down, wait for them to waddle away.
They walk slowly, as if they want to be startled
back into this world. Maybe you do, too,
waiting for all this to give way to love itself,
to look into the eyes of another and feel something,
anything, to see them safely cross despite
your idling car groaning its displeasure
in the early dawn.