It’s evening, and the things I’d love to do
line up behind the chores,
which briskly assert
their right to go first,
and some of the other things sigh,
thinking they’ll fade away again
for who knows how long

Still I am grateful,
for the chores, too, and how
I’m well set up to do them,
and maybe one of the other things
will get the happy surprise
of being tended to –
mending, or reading, or writing  –
I’ll sit here by the fire and see what comes
to fill my hands and mind.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 30, 2022