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Curling Up in the Sun

Even though she’d slept well, breathing easily
and deeply through the night,
she curled up now on the sofa, the circle
of afternoon sunlight
warming her, coaxing her, into a catnap,
a welcome one, it appears,
her deep, even breathing
attesting to the need.

Sitting nearby, he was struck by something
else altogether,
for the sunlight in its shift from east to west, had,
for a moment,
set her red hair afire, creating a halo effect,
the lingering image
breaking into glistening threads of light
that swirled around her heart,
and spinning free,
touched others with its golden concern.

One of those she’d touched had, just today,
touched her
with a young painter’s words,
the black and white
of cyberspace becoming in no time
the blues and reds of gratitude.
The young woman had
spun out her dark story and my friend
had listened,
bringing empathy and closure
in a rainbow of unbroken trust.
Now both are at ease
in their new friendship,
he, in silence, a celebrating witness
to his friend’s
sun-kissed repose.

 

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