We had our first dusting of snow this past Saturday and, not surprisingly, I felt drawn to sit beside my window with my pen and paper. "Simple Delights" captures what I observed, but I took the photo accompanying it a few years ago.
Simple Delights
by Lauren Taub Cohen
Tiny drops of
coruscating crystal
cling to the skeletal
branches of a fledgling
oak tree shivering
beneath my window.
Across the street
a pug and a lab
move in steady circles
straining to sniff
the other’s behind.
Their owners chat idly
as their hands
work like a weavers'
to untangle the
braided leashes.
I laugh hysterically
from my omniscient perch
two stories above this
canine comedy.
People are walking briskly.
Few look up from their phones
or out from their thoughts.
After some time
the owners begin to
move apart and their
dogs begrudgingly
obey the tug to go.
My focus returns
to the woodsy scent
of my rich coffee and
the clanking of pre-war pipes
signaling the entrance
of sibilant steam.
And, here I am
lolling around
in the cozy comfort
of such simple
delights.
