Her Peace Poem by Lonnie Hicks

It was her accepted littleness

that attracted me

the smallness of her

her hands little more than mitten-sized

her voice that of an 11 year old on a woman 23

her alloted space in this life seemed tiny

and whether it was her way
of saying "we all must take up less space"

or her own inward sense of her own self

I could not tell
and moving toward her
absorbed more of her

to see what nearness

might reveal.

Her movements were delicate

small, matching her physique

a slip of a woman

barely there.

Me:
"Pleased to meet you" I said.

And in a whisper she said barely audible

"Yes, I as well."

I took her response
with the realization that she

exhibited a calmness

that was her at peace with herself;

it drew me to her

to experience its wave
of serenilty

as though it flowed through her

arched outward to those around her

onto my brittle shell

and it responded to her silent
witness.

It was my silent, frenetic soul

meeting her calm center

tha over time

we became the alert side by side

standing together.

This is how we were then,

and now, married, years later.

I drew upon her Peace
and I like to think she
held to my Alert Being.