POEM: WHAT LASTS?

Sitting here with a slow cup
of morning coffee,
before I’m off to the hospital
to see her.
“Lord, please get her better soon.”
The clear glass salt shaker
and sugar bowl
we received at our wedding
43 years ago this month,
still sit there on our 2nd kitchen table,
in this our 3rd home.
Our kids are gone,
off on their own.
At times we don’t miss them,
as much as our grandkids.
I sit here all alone
missing her and our long love affair,
our quiet breakfasts: eggs,
coffee and cornflakes,
and her smiling command,
“No sugar! No salt!”
and she’s the one in the hospital.

© Andrew Costello 2007