Magdalena

Bending at the hip
she wipes the toilet seat
Then on her knees
Washes out the bowl
I wonder at her speed
Her gait her stride
The breeding in it
Her knuckling into dirt
Without a word
Her equanimity
whatever task I make

She tells me of Chile
“My country” as she says
And of a family
That works the earth
To whom she sends
A share of what she earns
I’ve come to know
Her vicissitudes
Her dreams her ways
Her pleasure in her boy
Who goes to Fordham Prep
The man who did not
Treat  her right
Whom she left behind
The seven days she spends
Pursuing bread

At Christmas I gesture
Out of obligation
Yet striving to be kind
And give a gift of cash

Then pausing weigh a thought
And reaching to a bookshelf
I bring Neruda forth
And offer it to her

She takes it to her breast
Her smile improves the light
“This is my Christmas” she says

It makes a fool’s heart leap

5/21-7/11/95, 6/l8/96, 1/26/98, 5/12/98

Copyright 1998 by Maurice Leiter

Posted with permission.