Poem of the Day: "Rachel" by Mary Soon Lee, Frequent Contributor

Rachel

Mary Soon Lee

In a cardboard home

decorated by her children

she sent my daughter

four wooden mice,

like the wooden mice

we played with ourselves

when we were school friends.

I remember the spaceship

we built for my mice,

and rooms laid out

with domino walls,

tiny padded armchairs

pulled up around a fireplace,

cups smaller than my thumbnail.

I remember a rope swing

stretching to the sky

in her grandparents' garden;

the chocolate cakes

her mother baked;

and how she visited me

every day for a week

when I had chickenpox.

Poet's Notes: Rachel was one of my best friends when I was growing up. We still exchange Christmas cards and occasional emails, but haven't seen each other in a long time. (My fault, for moving to America.) I was very touched when Rachel sent my daughter little wooden mice like the ones we played with years ago, together with a cardboard mouse house that her children had decorated. I regret that our children have never met each other.