Summer Reading

Summer Reading

This summer I’ve been walking to a small neighborhood park 

on the east side of  St. Paul.  Once a week I take my lunch, I sit 

and read, I watch people come and go.

There is an old woman in a wheelchair, and a man some years 

younger who sits beside her, reading aloud from a very long book.  

In the heat of summer, they sat in the shade of the trees on the 

lawn.  As autumn has drawn near, they have moved to a sunny 

bench.

She leans toward him in her chair, head angled so that her ear is 

close to his voice.  His finger is tracing the words on the page.  

I think about the intimacy that comes with reading in that way 

over the course of a summer.  I wonder what world they are sharing 

together in this moment.

I finish my lunch and notice these milkweed seeds quivering in 

the breeze at the edge of the park.  Before heading back to work 

I take a few minutes to consider them as well.

~ Hal