WE THRIVE ON IT
By Susan Frank
April 8, 2016
In celebration of all our rituals together
As they may disappear..
I read one morning
Silent sustained reading
A quotation that brought me
Back to us
The quote was this:
“We survive by ritual”
We don’t thrive on it
We don’t ask for it
We don’t run with it
We don’t live by it
We Survive by it.
The rituals have changed
So much over the years
How can we imagine
That we thought
They wouldn’t change?
And now,
On the edge of another
Possible change
You, all these years
Later
Is it really time?
RITUAL
We survive by ritual
Peeps, animal crackers,
Yellow Snoopy lunch boxes
Annual poems on birthdays
Morning cafeteria chats
Reminiscences of times beloved
Lunches of many colors
Dreams of cures
Laughs over tastes, stories,
A phrase, a gift, a child’s folly
We survive by ritual
Mourning our losses
Shared grief
Chances deteriorated
Notes of condolences
Fighting together
For what is right
Owning up
To our falls
Mistakes
Having our voices heard
If only by each other
Loving Topo Gigio
Him loving us
We shall always survive
By ritual
It embraces us
It envelops us
It consumes us
It welcomes us
We wear it as armor
A coat of comfort
A shawl of solidarity
And I ask again,
How will I continue my course
Of ritualistic survival
Upon your leavetaking?
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