Love for a Few Minutes Tonight

I was folding clothes and doing chores

When Pandora featured Kenny G playing “Songbird” from my computer

In the guest room.

Memories sped back to a day and time

When Mommie used to love playing her music on the stereo

In the living room

While she worked in the kitchen getting supper ready.

She loved her smooth jazz

And her blues

And her “Red Sails in the Sunset” music.

But mostly it was smooth jazz

From saxophonists or pianists and sometimes guitarists.

I stopped folding the towels

And dropped into my memory of feelings--

Splashes of light from the days

When I had her,

And I had home,

And she looked for me coming into town

Greeting me with flowers in the kitchen

And jazz softly playing from the stereo.

Back then

I felt the warmth

The security

The goodness

The togetherness of doing much of nothing.

Now it’s just me and the cat . . . and the music.

She instilled in me her love

For playing the stereo in my home

While going about cleaning or washing

Or whatever a home needs doing.

So thanks, Kenny G,

Herbie Hancock,

Chick Corea,

Dave Brubeck,

Billie Holiday,

John Coltrane, and

George Winston

to name a few.

You brought me some love

in my heart’s memory

for a few minutes tonight.