Sitting on the deck just off the kitchen
of the summer house
here on the island
the place my grandmother
the family matriarch picked out
for her two sons-in-law to buy
once they'd been back
a few years from the war
and there were more of us
than she and grandpa could put up
at Phaleron their place a quarter mile
down the lagoon

Aric and I are talking about
this and that
poetry, family, past loves
how hard it is
to forgive someone who's wronged you
and whom you have also wronged
since as he pointed out
you first need to
forgive yourself
and then ask their forgiveness

Meanwhile from the little cherry tree
small passarines are flitting down
to the bird feeder
my sister's fills with seeds
the prettiest is the tufted titmouse
with its soft grey back
its swept back crest
and movements quicker than
my eyes can follow

While we've talked the sky has gone
from grey to blue
with clouds on the horizon
the blue of the lagoon
shows just above the grassy bluff
that slopes down to the beach
only a hundred feet from us
and now my sister's grandsons
have returned from tennis camp
ending the morning quiet
time to put this piece to rest