shards of an earthen vessel

***

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”  – Blanche DuBois, in A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams

***

Computer, bag, stuff sitting

on a table in the

cafe where i am

sipping, writing, musing.

Sipping overmuch i think because

(sheepishly)

i have to evacuate.

Next to me there is a

someone

minding their own business

sipping, writing, musing.

In some worlds i would not have to ask

would not fret the safety of all my

stuff

but in this i must impose upon the

kindness

of a someone i don’t even know

to watch it, guard it, as if

it were their own.

When i come back

i smile and say

thanks

because all my junk is still

there.

In some worlds a someone might not be so

generous

with their time, effort, watching

and would instead

sip, write, muse

while another someone

picked me clean.

But in this one,

i can smile

and say

thanks

because i have leaned, even just for a moment

on some

someone

who did for me a

kindness.

***

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.    – Galatians 6 : 2