a perfect day.

(4 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

a funny perfect thing, this messy house.

it gave no stress.

and was filled

to the brim with

the left-behind touches

of those we love

in fact, the slight disarray

felt merry and warm;

as we had our morning coffee

and laughed about who said this

and who did that…

’round noon, we slurped some warm soup,

and late afternoon we sat with some tea,

all in the glow of our holiday chatter

i felt sad, in the end, to clean it all up.

the bright little bows and the crinkled up paper.

there were pieces of cookies, a discarded sock, and

all those burned out candles…

there was a washload of sheets, and

stuffing the pillows back into their cases

i dusted and swept

and yes, even wept,

as this perfect day

finally leapt to its end