cleaning & sorting

I was going through possessions I have not seen in over a year, and I found a journal that a friend, Jodi, gave me for Christmas in 1986. I never used the journal, but my friend wrote one poem by hand every 20 pages. I sent one of these poems to my college roommate who is now living in San Francisco-Daly City to be exact- raising her beautiful daughter Isabelle with some help from her charming husband Mathieu.

Jolie, this poem is for you.

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826-1887)

from A Life for a Life

Oh, the comfort—
the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person—
having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,
but pouring them all right out,
just as they are,
chaff and grain together;
certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping,
and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.