Washed Away

She tended to worry
a lot... for a kid.
She'd lay awake at night afraid to listen 
to the sound of her heart beating,
worried that it might stop.

She'd once read the Time-Life Encyclopedia on The Universe
and became obsessed with the woman from Alabama
who was singled out, by a rock from a very far place, 
in her sleep.
So, she'd lay in her bed looking up
at that place in the ceiling where her meteorite would inevitably fall through,
and beg the Universe," Please not tonight, I have art class tomorrow."

As she got older  and wiser
every book, 
movie, 
or newspaper article,
told the story of someone, roughly her own age, dying young.

And so 
she became convinced that
every stomach pain,
headache or leg cramp was the onset of her own unhappy ending.

She hated that she worried so much
yet found herself drawn to the very things that caused her to worry.
Freak accidents,
natural disasters,
incurable illnesses,
third rails,
chain letters...

She would often think 
as she read the slogan for the dry cleaners downtown,
"Deposit Your Worries Here"
Oh, if only there were such a place!
And how busy it would be!

She imagined big sacks of worries,
pinned up with huge diaper pins,
being thrown into
enormous canvas carts
and transported by conveyor belt
into a dark, mysterious tunnel
where they'd be cleaned, steamed,
deodorized of anxiety
then starched and pressed into strength and hope.
Such a place would be magnificent, 
she dreamed...

And for a moment 
maybe an hour
all her worries
took a ticket and waited
at the counter

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Peace ~ Rene

Bondye konn bay, men li pa konn separe – God gives but does not share.
Haitian Proverb


God gives us humans everything we need to flourish, but he’s not the one who’s supposed to divvy up the loot. That charge was laid upon us.” ~ Dr. Paul Farmer