This month’s poem is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Annmarie Castelbaum.  Aleha hashalom.
Her body poured itself “into blossom” when she dropped her fleshy costume on July 13, 2021 at the age of 90.
She loved this poem and never tired of reading it after I first shared it with her in 2009. 

I’ll never tire of remembering her infectious laughter her fiercely compassionate love for all sentient beings.
Her life was, and remains, teaching, blessing and gift. 

 

A Blessing

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,

Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.

And the eyes of those two Indian ponies

Darken with kindness.

They have come gladly out of the willows

To welcome my friend and me.

We step over the barbed wire into the pasture

Where they have been grazing all day, alone.

They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness

That we have come.

They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.

There is no loneliness like theirs.

At home once more,

They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.

I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,

For she has walked over to me

And nuzzled my left hand.

She is black and white,

Her mane falls wild on her forehead,

And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear

That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.

Suddenly I realize

That if I stepped out of my body I would break

Into blossom.

James Wright from Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose.
Copyrighted material; for educational/therapeutic purposes only.

 

I offer these in honor of my mother; the exceptional Natalie Merchant sings Kind and Generous.  A moving tribute if ever there was one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR6PV-Irv7s

And an all-time amazing scene, from A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  Makes me want to walk up
to every stranger I see and person I know and gently caress their cheek with my fingertips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AzXX_2BrVk