One Moment

Two women hug near the breath of a steaming oven. The beef stew bubbles. Aroma floats upward in a canopy of captured mist. The air stout with scents of apple pie, dumplings, roasted chicken. For two women who've had a history together that has skipped through decades. They hug tightly in a quiet blanket of comfort. It's time that cries with them like splattered grease on the wall from eggs frying. Two women wiggle free from labels, in this stolen moment, in the coarse twilight, the clumsy clutch of need. They've built life's private scaffold, a shared life on which to hang their sign: Diner Closed, Pandemic Grieving. undertow of loss yawning void of tomorrow that left hope dangling Haibun Composed: April 29, 2021 Contest:Moments of Reflection Sponsor: Malabika Ray Choudhury