How Lady Learned At Last
*** How Lady Learned at Last ***
For decades, Lady daydreamed, wanting a full closet,
A packed, complete fashionable style:
Shoes to hats, to crown the French Bob
Of shinny, brunnette tresses above her hazel eyes.
There’d be gauzy blouses and Merino, Polo
Sweaters in a dozen colors altogether.
All the details took hours upon hours of thought, such as
The mixing and matching of those tops with
All the any of six Skater Skirts,
(once she might have them all)
Designed with a bit of a swing; or to wear with
The any of seven medium-weight and permanently-
Pleated pants in solid colors or faint Scottish plaids.
To which would be added enough flowy cardigans
To match the pants; and then, add the rhinetone broaches
To set on each top at the collar, featuring favored
Creatures from seahorses and turtles: to a glimmering
Onyx,seated cat — to represent her Milo, who
Had just months before crossed over The Bridge; and
A mother-of-pearl with simulated diamonds,
To stand for her brother’s new
Rat Terrier Cassie, whose likeness she had embroidered on
The side of one of her pair of new, blue, suede boots.
She had it all planned out. “Just right,” Lady confessed.
All for the teen still within her, who had had only two
Outfits until she quite obviously, tugging seams, outgrew
Them, adding to her despair as a freshman in high school,
Because she admitted to enviously eyeing other girls,
Who even had outfit-matching knee socks
Stuck into their cliquey, Aigner penny loafers, exclusively close to
The also enviable Aigner shoulder bags; additionally topping
the wardrobes of the “popular” girls, with
Their hung-to-their-sides, most handsome boys in class.
Easy to guess, regularly, teen Lady’d beg, beginning her quest
For even some more (nicer) clothes. But,
While, Lady’s mom
, who always saw the situation as one of popularity, not necessity,
Automatically said, “If EVERYBODY’s
doing IT, doesn’t mean it’s good.”
While Lady would have agreed to to the Five-‘n-Ten hanging
on racks by the rear door, no-name brands; and,
While her mom didn’t suppose Christ was in truth Divine, but
Did think “Be Good,” was excellent advice;
But didn’t include, “Be well-dressed,” sending
Lady’s wardrobe dreams, in hindsight, to confess, having
at some point along the way
Turned the visions of her too fattened closet
Into a kind of a Golden Calf
Grazing the pastures of her wishes and envy
Lingering on along inner hillsides, which
should have been long passed.
In a prayerful testimo to God
many years after high school,
Lady faced her own being…and
Opened the gate to let the calves
— the many she’d come to own —
Out to go off down the stony road to other pastures;
And then she dropped to her knees…
————————————————————————————————
(c) sally young eslinger 2/2023
Thanks be to God…
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