Eating a Good Lunch on a Sad Day

Tell the truth,

you laughed several times today.

You almost forgot to eat lunch,

but you didn’t —

It was a nice vegetable casserole

made with quinoa, roasted zucchini and hummus.

Your cat curled up in your lap

while you read The Best Poems of Jane Kenyon.

You marveled at how much she looked like your sister.

You wondered if she could have been a friend.

When you woke up this morning it was all bombings and deaths,

narrated by an apocalyptic Muppet character.

Miss Piggy said it all —

You may be the world’s most dangerous frog,

but you are still a frog.

You cried.

You did.

You drove your son to his Adult day program.

They are teaching him skills to be more independent.

Every day he greets the world with joy and hope.

Boom, boom went the little green frog today.

Boom, boom went the little green frog.

Boom, boom went the little green frog today.

You are a lucky man.

After lunch you ate the frozen dates with peanut butter,

the snack you had prepared

before driving your son to his friends.