Dear Once,

  

Upon a time I met you;

In that space between here and there,

In that time between now and then.

 

Before I arrived

And after you left,

We exchanged lessons

And learned.

 

You took my hands,

Shaping them

And training them,

Explaining some skills they needed.

 

In my current now, I knit,

Continental style, of course.

Enjoying the creation of things,

Taking string and making fabric, then garments.

 

I bake, on occasion,

Willing my two sourdough loaves to rise,

Kneading them firmly

As I know how.

 

When gardening,

 I talk to the plants,

Coaxing growth,

As I must.

 

Our lives are very different:

Yours involved cows,

Mine involves cats,

Our beasts informing the cadence of our days.

 

Our lives are very similar:

We love the same souls

From opposite sides -

Son and father, daughter and aunt.

 

We peer at the world

A little sideways, we’ve been told,

Considering the best approach

In our strange times.

 

I’m grateful, always,

For what was exchanged

When we were in between,

In the middle of our Heres and Nows.

 

Thank you and With Love.

Some Explanation…

 This poem has been tickling my mind for years and, after some strange alignments and available time, it was written on April 9, 2020. 

 

 My grandmother, Frances Mary LaBrash (nee Wurm), was born April 7, 1905 in the North West Territories (Dana, Saskatchewan, Canada).  She died in November 1980, a few years before my start.  My mother stated once that one of her regrets was that I didn’t get to meet my paternal grandmother; as in most mother-daughter relationships, we sometimes disagree.  Due to circumstance, my parents and grandmother would exchange letters; my grandmother’s missives to her cherished ones started with “Dear Once.”

 

 This poem peripherally references the following words from Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, “Sully, for shame!" Jonathan said in reproach, " and don't be foolish! What are we trying to practice everyday? If our friendship depends on things like space and time, we've destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don't you think that we might see each other once or twice?”

 

Written by Sara LaBrash,  April 9-11, 2020.