I burned a candle in the bathroom
and the smoke stained up the wall
I’ve burned candles in other bathrooms
and never had this happen
It was a new candle – how was I to know –
yet it seems proof I lack common sense
I sent a Mother’s Day card to Missouri
where the folks said they’d visit Grandma
Mom’s neck pains flared, they canceled the trip,
and no one called to inform me
My carefully selected card winged its way
to the Show Me state where Mom never saw
I feel I have failed at the details of life
forgetting birthdays, never wrapping gifts
Leftover chocolates melt under glass
in the too-hot sun of early morning
I forgot they would be sitting unprotected
‘cause I’ve no blinds on the eastern windows
Light bulbs burn out and stay dark
because no ladder I own is tall enough
Dry cleaning sits for days and days
with the kindly old man down the street
Newspapers sit in piles unread
and usually unrecycled, too
Someone really ought to fix the bathroom sink
water pressure has trickled to nothing
I need a few new shirts for summer but
I cannot be bothered with shopping
And there’s a cord still affixed with masking tape
right across my living room floor
Why am I so miserable at the details of life
unable to accomplish the simplest tasks?
I’d rather read for hours in a hard wooden chair
sipping a cold cup of coffee – straight black
While all these chores remain undone
and the flowers on the table slowly wilt
But, hey, I make the bed every morning
and I usually clean the cat’s litter box
And I’ve kept those two houseplants alive
ever since my sister abandoned them
There is always a bottle of wine to be had
hell, there’s usually several to choose from
And when I wake in the morning to see the sun
dance in inexplicable patterns on the lake
I realize that the important details are not
lighted bulbs and gushing water pressure
But smiles and hugs and the kind words of friends
these are the details that last