We Knew

          for Jeffrey

by Ann Lapinsky

Your first gift to me was

a bottle of wine

wrapped in Christmas

wrap, tied with a string,

taped with white 

artist’s tape.

It was February.

On our first trip 

to the tea shop

you asked for the 

thing in the case with

the sesame seeds 

all over it and did not

want to know what 

it was. When you ate

the mochi cake, you

told me it was way 

too sweet but that 

was OK.

During our first home-

cooked meal you thought

the black sesame seeds

I placed on the roasted

carrots looked like mouse

turds. You ate them 

anyway.

When we wanted to connect

on a Friday evening and 

could only think of going

to a Dunkin Donuts,

you told me it was one

of your favorite dates.

And a year has gone by

and you still give me gifts

wrapped in Christmas

wrap all times of the year

and we still go to that tea

shop but get macarons instead

of mochi and you still come 

to my house for dinner

and we still laugh about 

Dunkin Donuts and the

mouse turds.

Still.

~

In her retirement, Ann is facilitating a meditation group, leading meditations for lawyers, teaching yoga dance, taking lots of walks,  putting in her hours as a member worker at the Honest Weight Food Coop and writing poetry.