What is sweetness to you?
The taste of sugar or honey?
The smell of a rose?
The sound of a lone flute?
The touch of a baby’s skin?
The sight of a mother bird tending its chick?
When there’s time to pause, sweetness seeps in.
Touches you.
Sometimes holds you in its hand.
Makes magic.
Cousins, who rarely see each other, playing.
As though there were no interruption.
With some primal understanding of kinship.
Caring, sharing, mentoring.
Indulging playful whims.
A three-year-old firefighter, delivery man.
Sharing food at table.
Fishing for fallen tidbits from highchairs.
Picking up pens to write.
What could possibly be sweeter?
Than watching cousins get along?
A melody in motion.
Inimitable sweet song.
Lynn Benjamin
August 21, 2023
Below are two poems written by Katerina (9) and Eliana (6) on our first night of the reunion. Photos also appear.
Children are:
Katerina (9), Eliana (6), Maia (18 mo), Ezra (5), Arthur (3), Solomon (12 mo). Roseanne and her family could not come due to illness. Zev is in Portugal.
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Bunnies
Yaya and I see two bunnies in my backyard.
Leaping, playing, eating.
In the background, cicadas drumming.
Crickets chirping.
Wind whooshing.
Light fading.
Night clouds gathering.
Blankets in the sky.
Two bunnies resting.
Their night light, a firefly.
Katerina Benjamin (9 years)
August 20, 2023
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Deer
Deer have horns.
They fight other deer.
Different kinds.
Males and females.
They eat plants, grass.
They hunt at night.
They visit my backyard.
From the forest.
At night, they hear crickets.
Eliana Benjamin (6 years)
August 20, 2023
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