Lucy
CLAY REYNOLDS
May 31, 2020
She sits beside me every dawning,
Content in our silent commerce,
Patient, uncomplaining of my ragged hack
Of pipes charred by abusive time.
Her gaze is constant; her steady breath
A misty vapor on sunlit dew.
She asks for nothing, except, perhaps,
My hand upon her head
That for my comfort she holds at propitious height,
Or maybe the rake of my fingers on her ears,
And, often, down her neck
To smooth her velvet pelt and calm taut tendons.
As I own her, I’ve named her;
I want her notice when I call.
Her name means nothing, though;
For truly, I am not her master.
She owns me, and to me she gives me no name.
My self is in her eyes.
I bring her food and all too rarely bathe her,
See after her health, and offer her
All too often a harsh word when she displeases.
If I banish her, she leaves;
She returns upon command, eager for a praising tone of greeting,
Delighted in her goodness.
She is my morning mistress,
Her mute companionship more a habit than a cause.
Indifferent to global strife, ignorant of human suffering,
Careless of my worries and concerns.
She bides with me and patiently shares the melancholy wool
Of time I gather in the ruminations and regrets that come with age.
I could not endure without this soughing cur,
This living balm that offers unvarnished adoration.
This beast that forbids despair and wards off harping Furies.
She accepts me as I am with all my faults and flaws.
She forgives me all my sins,
Even those that hurt her.
For her I am never beyond redemption,
Never lost or alone in darkness.
My imperfections assure her
Of my worthiness, my potential for salvation.
I think, sometimes that she is Mother.
I think, sometimes that she is God.
Novelist, short-story writer, essayist, literary critic, and pundit CLAY REYNOLDS is a retired professor of Arts and Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas. He and his wife, Judy, dog and cat live on an acre of rain-soaked prairie in Lowry Crossing, somewhere east of McKinney, TX. His numerous published works can be located and in some part obtained from at least some on-line bookstores, and from his website, www.clayreynolds.info.
