We never really learn until we truly learn.
We always make the same mistakes: again and again
We see ourselves standing on a precipice
Yet we make the jump
Only to break our bones
To get up
To climb up
And fall again.
I ask myself
Why don’t I ever learn?
When will I ever learn?
Will I never learn?
But always always
feel the pain?
Is there a reason for this?
A debt I have to pay?
Or, is it simply just that
Life’s lessons are never learnt
Until they truly are.
I’m joining Reema and Vinay with this verse inspired by this week’s prompt on #WednesdayVerses: REASON.
In the old days Hubby Dear used to travel a lot. And much like the merchant in the classic fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, my husband would ask his two girls what they wanted him to bring back from his travels. And like the good little girls they were, they replied “Nothing”.
Because they knew that in any case, he would come back home like Santa Claus, laden with goodies: toys and chocolates and perfumes and stuff beyond their young imaginations.
On one such journey, he brought back home an exquisitely worked linen table cloth (from a Poland still behind the Iron Curtain) that brings back memories of Wedel’s chocolate wafer cake, Crystal candelabra and beer mugs with carved pewter tops.
Last night, after many years,
I took out the white linen table cloth and spread it on my teak wood table.
Our guests were special
And so I thought
Merited a special table.
With dinner done, I cleared the plates
and found some stains
That spoiled the white.
My pristine, precious table cloth had spots
That had to be scrubbed away.This morning when the sun was up
I soaked the cloth in soapy suds.
I scrubbed and scrubbed and washed
The stains and left the cloth to dry.All day long the table cloth
fluttered in a teasing breeze.
The blazing sun drew out spots
And by evening it was back to white
With just a hint of blackish marks.
I realized then that memories
Happy and pleasuresome
though well may be,
Leave behind traces,
Marks and spots
That stain the cloth eternally.
My Polish linen table cloth hand embroidered with a hint of pink in white floral patterns, edged with hand made lace and highlighted with delicate cut away circlesMy city peeping from behind the table cloth
A lot has changed since this post appeared on this blog 9 years ago. For starters my view has changed . No longer do I have an unrestricted view. Instead my sky is getting crowded with more and more high rises shooting up each day.
I still have the tablecloth and it comes out each time I entertain…. creating more memories for it to remember and me to cherish.
Twenty- five Seven 