Love Her

I found her at Chanticleer, and of course I fell in love (yes, yes, it's true: on a daily basis I fall harmlessly in love). She was afraid of nothing (you see that in her eyes, and in the cock of her inventive hat). She was willing to trust the warming weather. She opened her hand as if to say, Let me show you the way, and when I saw her next, down by the big pond, she was delineating the orange-backed koi from the blue. Knowledgeably, with stylish forewarning.

Last night, a young friend wrote to ask if I am sometimes afraid for the young women in this world. Perhaps you are, perhaps you should be, my friend wrote, but then she went on to tell a late-night story, offering it as a salve, "in case you were worrying."

I worry. All the time, I worry. And I am redeemed, every day, by brave young souls.