Dear Life

by Alice Duggan

give me a slow morning.
Let me stop on the stairs,
talk to the cat, decide
not to do the dishes —

then undertake a new garden.
Burbling water will call to the birds.
Lush underbrush for the small ones,
tall elms for the lordly oriole.

Then I can hear call his bright
syncopated call. Dear Life, give me
a beautiful dress. The lover who comes
with it. You know what I need.

I will worship a slow morning.
I will vow to do nothing at all
—and serve no one. Only to
wear a beautiful dress

like a bright migrant
passing through.