Brave Lady

Eyes bluer than you’ve ever seen,

this woman’s brave.

You only notice them at first,

followed by the brilliance of her smile

that overshadows all the scars

from all the battles that she’s fought

and lost, or fought and won,

but she’s been fighting long

and hard for many years.

She’s learned to rest.

She’s earned some rest.

And all the complications

and the conversations that are hard

and razor-edged will be no match

because she’s found her peace.

(c) Ellen Gillette, 2022

Beneath a Metal Sky

Incognito, royalty (in purple shoes
a princess had bestowed some years ago)
decided she was overdue for exercise,
emerging from her modest chariot
to climb the bridge alone.
Beneath a metal sky that turned the water
far beneath a lovely shade of green,
infused with salt and light.
with oxygen and sun, she smiled
at others walking past and even caught
the eye of someone in a truck
who couldn't guess the woman
in the baseball cap had left her crown
at home. Her muscles spoke convincingly
that she should do this very thing
more frequently -- why had it been so long?
Let others walk in circles,
one more time around the mountain,
thought the queen. I'd rather walk
a bridge and back , and smell the fishy breeze.
I'd rather feel the pounding of my heart
while walking in my purple shoes 
beneath a metal sky.



(c) Ellen Gillette, 2016

Simple Question But

If you ask her how she's doing,

Ancient Greek vase

you can count on this: No,

really! Count it out, although

I wouldn't recommend you say

it where she'll hear you - that would

be a little crass. But silently, wait

one, two, three...

in seconds she'll stop telling you about

her life, her heart, and start to tell you how 

her husband is, the kids, and did I tell 

you what my grandson did last week

in school? At least for years it was that way

exclusively,  so wrapped up in

the lives of others that she almost

lost herself, but lately, she will catch herself,

and roll her eyes and grin, and maybe

make a face to show she knows what

she has done. 

"I'm great," she'll say, regardless

of the circumstances all around her,

and it's true. She is. She always was.

But now she knows it. 

And it took awhile

before she saw it, saw herself removed

from anyone or anything, just her,

just who she is. But she had help

(one almost always must have help).

"And how are you?"

(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014