Flash fiction 55, 2/11/11

                                                                          ( 55 in italics)
Sometimes on short notice, we are asked to share
our 'Experience, Strength and Hope'
in recovery. Last night was one of those.
We say a prayer and then
We tell a story about 'What it was like,
what happened and what it is like now.'

  Can you see the silhouette over there
-see where I am pointing?

    " Down the train platform,
     a figure, quite straight and thin
     -if you look a bit closer through 
     the back light and steam-
     tweedy brown suit
     with a rounded hat,
     a frizzy pony tail
     over the left shoulder,
     her nose buried in a book.
     At her feet, well blended
     a stiff suitcase
     in shaded yellow."

This is a person my Higher Power
has shown me.Where she came
from and where she has gone since,
Has involved some painful choices.
Insanity,oblivion, Mercy and Grace -

She is a traveler. On the move to and fro.

Have you ever looked down on a lake from above
surrounded by evergreens ?
Sometimes the scene is Winter
sometimes Summer-
Sometimes there is movement
in and around those trees.
Or it may only be tracks in the snow
to tell you 'someone' has been here.

    I never know what views
H.P. will want to draw on.
I dread the dredging-
But I have learned
'This too shall pass.'
I have come to understand
that you who are listening,
may need to hear
where I have been. What I have
encountered.
I look back over what came through
and wonder- was it enough?
What could they possibly
have gotten from that ?

Sometimes you folks tell me
afterward. Sometimes not.
Usually there is at least
some " Thanks for sharing".
"I like your honesty"-
Occasionally specific incidents
are mentioned.
You have told me:
Just "Pass it on".
Just do it. "Let go..."

It may bring me to tears
amazement, acceptance;
But somehow, somewhere,
always gratitude. Amen.