Joy
The more I walk, the happier I am
to move down a path on a balmy afternoon.
In the pond shadows reflect
naked trunks and branches.
A few leaves linger. Birds sleep
unseen, save for the ducks gliding in pairs,
creating barely a ripple. Clusters of people
stroll in all directions. A group
of exuberant walkers bounds down a trail
singing and giggling. Another pauses
to listen to the spring gush. A young
couple sits in the grass by the split-rail fence,
consider the sunlit prospect. I picture
our daughter and her boyfriend
reveling, in a colder climate.
I imagine them chatting with each other,
laughing as they make dumplings
and gather for a potluck.
Gabriella Bedetti’s essays, poems, and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in New Literary History, Still, Gravel, Asymptote, Ezra, and Rhino. She is a professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University, where she co-teaches Comedy as an Artistic Approach. In June, 2020, she completed a month of blogging on https://lexpomo.com. She and her spouse are translating Henri Meschonnic’s poems from the French. https://gabriellabedetti.wordpress.com/.