2 lives


Her mother used to put him in her playpen with her.
Concerned about her toys, she’d sit and stare —
waiting for him to make his move.

But he didn’t.

He loved only his teddybear,
straw-colored buddy who’d disappear sometimes
mysteriously like memory.

Until she’d find it,

save it from the wastebasket
where it sat, tidied-up & waiting
for someone just like her

to return it.

So she did, perhaps in thanks
for his lack of greed
or just because she worked that way.

It doesn’t matter.

She disappeared to grow a family,
he to save and savor a world
where everything could grow.

Which it did.

Then one day she remembered him
and hauled him back to life, back to love
back to herself, who held him tight

& stuffed the straw back in.

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for Buddy Furlow
8/28/92