exercising love

a man named jack agüeros wrote a book of poetry entitled, "Lord, Is This a Psalm?"

it's one of my favorites. most of them are kind of angry at the brokenness of the world. well, maybe a little more than kind of.

this one though is just lovely.

Psalm: A Woman Grows Old
by: Jack Agüeros

Lord,
A woman gets old
taking the weight of a grapefruit
in her hand. I see her in the market
seesawing her hand up and down,
bending her elbow, cradling the globe.

In the swing of that arc,
she feels for the right one,
the juicy one, the ripe one, the sweet-smelling one,
the one that talks to her instinct.

Weighing fruit and vegetables alone could take one-seventh of her life, cooking and diapers
easily take another seventh of her life,
but these are not chores, nor burden, nor sacrifice.

Because Lord,
appraising fruit and vegetables
is one of the happy exercises of love for her family,
and while it's true that she grows older
she also becomes ageless
exercising love.