On the last day of school, my cousin died. In a stupor, I took my final exam, but all I could think was “мой двоюродный брат ha muerto. Gospod, se usmili.
I was a jumble of multiple languages, stuck in the spin cycle.
Se usmili. Господи, помилуй.
I drove thousands of miles.
I dressed for a funeral, dressed for the forests and lakes, dressed for a wedding. I looped up and around this country, stuck in the spin cycle.
It’s October.
I cleaned out my office this weekend, putting away the stacks of papers and flashcards and worksheets, dusty where they’d fallen on the last day of school.
I dusted, I swept, I knelt low. The sun swept low.
I opened up the blinds.
“O heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth,
who art in all places and fillest all things;
Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us
and cleanse us from every stain,
and save our souls, O gracious Lord.“
Amen. Lord, give us faith.
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