Cleaning the Clothes

A cool breeze touches my skin And I close my eyes A memory washes over me Through my hair And I smile Slowly Lingering there Standing there, here by a pile of clothes Under the evening sun gently swaying from the sky Inside the breeze cascading off the lake And at long last I open my eyes To the memory of first when We washed our clothes Here in the cooling Touch of life Do you close your eyes still and see it too The early morning light whispering of the coming day In tides of the sweet lullaby sighed from her lips A loon out there in the mist Singing as we talked As we laughed Splashed Laundry in the spring of summer Two friends knee deep in cooling waters Glimmering under the newly born sun And still in the quiet of day I linger here In the memory of that lesson Born in a splash A laugh “Colours first and separate from the whites,” said you And I smiled with a rolling of my eyes “Yuh, whatever,” said I with flicking splash So it was that you splashed back with a lean look “Right, colours first,” agreed I As the water ran down my face “And?” said you with prod of your toe I shrugged On came the splash “Okay! Okay! Separate from the whites!” I grinned And you laughed “You have to know how to do this Especially in today’s society,” chided you to me “Oh, really?” replied I with a playful splash to you “Isn’t that a package deal when I have a . . .” But you never let me finish that thought I laugh now in the memory of my sputtering cough The fresh and thrilling chill of the water And the look in your eyes Daring me to finish my sentence But wisely I said nothing Except to smile “No one is going to do your laundry for you,” said you I remember nodding as if in agreement Very solemnly And again you splashed me “What?!” I said laughingly “What was that for?!” “You know what,” said you frostily “I totally agreed with you!” “Uh, huh,” said you nodding as if you knew something “Its about being independent,” finally said you After a long quiet moment And I did not grin Or smirk But you splashed me anyway Maybe just a little smirk Afterwards as we hung our clothes out to dry I remember thinking and saying playfully so “You know I do have a washing machine, After all this is the age of technology . . ?” I’m still not sure when it was that I found myself Wearing you shoe But I remember thanking you Yes, I remember that much For sure . . .