Dirty dishes sit
Unrepentant in the sink
Always messy, sigh!
This is not a haiku. It’s just a verse. It could be worse! As could the post-midnight mess in the sink. But as the dishes and I glare at each other, I find myself moving from complaint to contemplation. Dirty dishes, I decide, are inevitable, a necessary part of life. Much like the inevitable death of my beloved mother who, unlike me, would never have left dishes to sit in the sink for half the night.
My mother, Kathleen Alice, passed away on 14th December, 2019, in Cairns, Australia. She was in her comfortable recliner chair, holding my sister’s hand, listening to one of her favourite songs, Isa Lei. She was 97. Until the last few weeks of her life, my mother seemed to derive purpose and joy from drying (not washing!) dishes. I need to up my game, take a tea towel out of my mother’s book of life.
silkannthreades 