ISSN: 1080-6059
Sharon Chmielarz
All those years–almost a hundred–
the farm had hard water.
Hard orange. Buckets lined in orange.
Sink and tub and toilet, too,
once they got running water.
And now, in less than a lifetime,
just by changing the well's location,
in the same yard, mind you,
the water's soft, clear, delicious to drink.
All those years to shake your head over.
Look how sweet life has become;
you can see it in the couple who live here,
their calmness as they sit at their table,
the beauty as they offer you new water to drink.
Copyright 2006 by Sharon Chmielarz. Reprinted by permission of the author through American Life in Poetry, an initiative of Ted Kooser, the 2004–2006 poet laureate consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress; the American Life in Poetry project is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ms Chmielarz's most recent collection of poems is "The Rhubarb King," Loonfeather Press, 2006.
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