Just a Few Steps
She sits in a wooden swing
on the wide porch
of the old farmhouse
cradling her broken leg
and watching the sun
drop lower and lower,
closer and closer
to the horizon, and suddenly,
the day is over.
Darkness envelops
the yard like a shroud.
Before she can pick
up her crutches and move
back indoors, a light set high
above the barn door comes on,
inscribing a bright circle
on the hard-packed earth below.
With just a few steps, she could,
herself, be within that ring of light,
and she recalls something
Pastor Hansen said in his sermon
that very morning, something about
stepping forward into the light
of the Savior, that all we need
to do is to take that next step,
but how can she, with her broken leg?
And would she, if it were not broken?
Would she step into that light?
Mary Ellen Shaughan is a native Iowan who now lives in Western Massachusetts. Her poetry has appeared in Red Rover, Amethyst Review, Gyroscope Review, Califragile, Winnow, Skipjack Review, Blue Moon, 2River View, a&u:America’s AIDS Magazine, and in several anthologies. Her first collection of poetry, Home Grown, is available on Amazon.
Amethyst Review 