Girl Talk

My friend and I tiptoed outside
In bare feet at midnight

(With temperatures in the 20’s)

To the hot tub

Where we soaked

Until 3:00 a.m. -

Hot steam rising into

The blank night,

Underwater light dappling

Bare shoulders and faces -

And discussed things like

Health and relationships,

Things like the purpose

Of suffering and hope,

Of loss and faith.

Birds of a feather flock together.

We were a sisterhood,

Two mothers

Of four children each,

Women who valued

Unedited feelings and stories

That had not been disguised

To make them

More presentable,

And certainly, God help us,

Not glamorous.

Life can be hard

We said, and is meant to be

Lived out deep down

In heart-hollows where

The mystery of the divine

Meets the human soul.

  

Blessing in disguise,

Just wait and see.

And so we spoke life

Into each other

While a wintry wind

Whipped across the lake’s thin ice

For the final time this season,

And the tub’s soothing water

Effervesced around us, fizzing

Like uncorked champagne.