The Visitor

Up island
almost any time of the year
even on the stormy days
you can find kitchen doors open
or at least unlatched.

But don’t let the recently pinned clothesline
or the open shed door
fool you
it doesn’t necessarily mean
the lady of the house is in.

She may be reading
or resting
or shelling peas.

But she may just as easily be out walking
in search of wildflowers
growing in clumps along the stone walls
or following the call of the whippoorwill to catch a peek
at their nesting babes
or skipping along the wagon wheel path to dip her toes in the sea.

I have taken to carrying this walking stick
when I am hiking the backroads.

It makes for a good companion for tired knees
or to tap on a beach rock to signal for Finnegan to stay close
or to lean on an open kitchen door
so that a woman
taken to wandering
is not all together startled
when she makes her way home
to find me shelling her peas.