Change is something we all live with. It’s inevitable, and we react to it in our own ways. If I’m honest, my reaction is often grief, or, at the very least, reflection. The longer I live, the more change I go through. For me, that means a lot of grief or reflection, even over things that don’t seem significant. But in a way, every change, no matter how small, carries the weight of death and new life, making it of ultimate significance. In this light, there is nothing unimportant in the world.
Below is a poetic reflection on change, which will be in my upcoming book, The Anonymity of Waiting.
Empty Hands
There, on the corner, that used to be
Button Jewelers and Watch Repair.
Next to it was…something else,
I can’t remember.
Where the dollar store is now
there was a J.C. Penney.
This building
with crumbling bricks
where I wait
was a record store.
A ghost sighs in my chest.
My hands lie at my sides,
empty.
Trembling, I fold them.
Together,
they hold onto each other,
and fill with prayer.
A Wandering Minstrel 