At the Laundromat
Sixty washers and sixty dryers,
All going ’round in circles,
Never ending …
Until a buzzer rings,
Until the fat lady sings.
Here’s a family with two kids,
Here’s a senior, down on the skids —
Changing his clothes just after drying.
Here’s a young man just returned,
His clothes have disappeared, he learns,
Surprised and shocked, he looks around.
I’d wondered ’bout that lady who
Said, “Don’t know
Who these clothes belong to –
Are they mine?”
Well, eventually it was straightened out.
Indeed, she’d taken what was his
And into the dryer, along it went
Tumbling ’round and ’round, along with hers.
Next week, I visited once more.
The young man came inside the door.
I asked him if he’d got his clothes.
Of one pair socks, he was depleted,
He shrugged, not seeming too defeated —
Serenely accepting an item deleted.
Missing Men
Missing men and absent abbas,
Deadbeat dads and passive papas,
Men who have gone off to fight,
Men who seem to be off site,
Men who sit and read the news,
While their kids are so confused.
Men who don’t know how to be men,
‘Cause their dad was missing when …
As they grew up, there was an absence
In body, spirit, or emotional lapses.
God, our Father, we pray to thee:
Fill the gaps we cannot see.
Help the men who never learned
For family, wife, to be concerned.
Who might not know to show respect
To women — sometimes they in fact reject
The ones who dare to have a mind;
Some men have not learned to be kind.
Don’t get me wrong, the ones who fight —
The rough guys, tough guys, they’re all right.
I only hope they will include
Some kindness in the interlude.
Yes, dear men, you have a role
To care for wife and children’s soul.
And like us women who too have flaws,
To see God’s plan we must give pause.
Category:
Christian, Commentary, family, Poems
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