Mercy, it turns out, is the older sibling

A Poem by Adrie Rose

 

Mercy, it turns out, is the older sibling
sitting down to play legos
with the young one
on the eleventh day of quarantine.
It is going outside to sled together,
though the snow is melting
fast beneath you, sluicing
into the drain at the bottom of the hill,
but you are still allowed this
hill, this slide beneath fir trees,
and so you take the ride
again and again, though
it sends you backward
and sideways, though you
have no idea what comes next,
when your child says, Can we
do it again? It turns out mercy
is you saying, Yes.

March 2020