Broken Ice

She stared out at the ice collapsed upon
the thawing, stony shore. Thick slabs that Time
had broken off, a sledge that pounded stone.
Be warmer soon, the one thought in her mind.
She turned away to finish work she’d just
begun—not endless, but enough of it.
The folding, putting things away, the fuss
of domesticity…things have their niche,
a simple truth that keeps the world intact.
When sunset bled onto the lake, she thought
about that ice, how life is freed or trapped—
of all, what brought her life the peace she sought?
She thought, A life is lived as best one can.
And that’s enough, she knew, to understand.

by Edward Hack

Editor’s Note: Sometimes the simplest aphorism can save a life.