Bear in Mind: Letter from Minnesota to Our Daughter in Moscow
The piano, with its diurnal keys,
waits for your touch. Over there, where you are,
night is not. Not now. Night is here to tease
us by promising this faint North Star
can be trusted to lead you home in June.
You are dazzled by onion domes, by rare
juxtapositions of bells. Here, a loon
bobs and dives on the river, while you share
potatoes and fish stew with new classmates,
learn traditions of the old Russian bards,
new street fashions, how a smile equivocates,
enhanced or diminished by spoken words.
As the earth turns–each day a little longer–
we know that you–away–grow wiser and stronger.
Leslie Schultz
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Hope to see you again in April! Leslie
I love the phrase “global nomad”–and I think it describes you, Hope!
This one really speaks to me as I raise my global nomad kids. I hope Julia has a wonderful time. I imagine she is taking it all in to process now and later. I look forward to the month of your poetry, dear Leslie.
I do believe she is! I thought, too, of Molly as I wrote this.
Loved your photos and poem! It speaks to me of what we wish for our children as they travel and learn and then return home. I imagine Julia is having an amazing experience!
As always, it is wonderful to know sensitive souls are reading these sketches each April day. Thank you for your comment!
I was thinking more about “bear” as a verb as in “to keep” and of the constellation, Ursa Major that helps locate the locate the North Star–pretty obscure, I grant you! One of the delights of these quickly limned poems is editing them later in the year, and I might change the title then.
I hope that Julia enjoys her trip and learns a lot! Not sure about bears, but maybe in a circus?