Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Map or "Waxing Thoughtful at the Airport"



 
My mirrors at home are kind,
But photos do not lie. And in them I see
A face unknown to me, though I have lived its contours and ridges,
I have stamped its surface with a roadmap of passions and wounds.

Recently someone said that I have much in common with Annette Benning—
The same hair, same coloring, the same age. The same apparent aversion to
Map-erasing surgeries and nerve numbing agents.

I cannot speak for Annette, but in photos I see fine marks sketched by myriad smiles,
Grooves carved by innumerable words and dining occasions.  I fancy I can trace
The salty tracks of watery gallons, a rivulet-smoothed plane running from north to south.
Other marks are deep crevasses carved by grief: of desire denied, fissures of frustration, clear tracks of unyielding sorrow.

But a loving hand has smoothed those cracks, filled them in not with man-made substitutes, but with peace and understanding.
Yet a trace remains. A print intended to remind me, I think, of the pain and the Panacea. 
So I look at human portraits and reflect upon the creator’s loving hand. A road for each of us, a path preplanned.

I will not envy when I study fresh-faced youths who have barely begun to live. And for those who would deny their existence with stitched and stretched skin and false fills, I feel a measure of pity.
For a face is a road map, a wordless book that speaks every language.
A mirror of a soul. 

~~Angie

9 comments:

BJ Hoff said...

Beautiful.

Bonnie Lacy said...

Wise and comforting. Thanks, Angie.

Anonymous said...

Ditto BJ and Bonnie. Wise, comforting, beautiful--and truthful. As are you. thank you, dear Angie. You are a gift.

Blessings,
Mary Kay

Barbara Parentini said...

Beautiful, poetry. Thanks, Angie.

Penny Frost McGinnis said...

Absolutely beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Angie, you have touched my heart so many times in so many ways and through so many of your perfectly expressed words. But this post today has brought a rather different set of those salty tracks to my map. Will any of us ever view our faces again without praising God for every well-earned nook and cranny we see thereon? You are a treasure, Angie, for your honesty and your amazing ability to reveal what we don't even know we are thinking. May God continue to bless you and your beautiful family. Much love and appreciation, always. Clyde

Southern-fried Fiction said...

How beautiful that is, Angie, and it expresses my feelings as well. For me, the marks of age remind me to smile lots, laugh lots, and spread cheer as much as I can.

I figure that way, no one will notice my wrinkles when their eyes are crinkled in laughter. ;)

Tamera Alexander said...

Lovely. Just like you.

Angela said...

Thank you, dear friends, for your kind comments. Life really is a matter of perspective, isn't it?

Angie