It was over forty years ago
on a crowded street
in a foreign land
we were going to the fair
as my daughter called it
the Thursday street market
house wares and vegetables
cheap clothes and shoes
pannekoeke with powdered sugar
and pickled herring to be swallowed whole
There we were
meandering along the carless street
I not yet thirty with long blond hair
my towheaded children five and two
the little one still in a stroller
when an old man on a bicycle
balding and smiling
with a deep kind face
came riding toward us
our eyes met and held
the gaze a forever knowing
his look a confirmation
and more a blessing
then he was gone
I stood stunned
seeing myself in his infinitely clear eyes
a strong young mother
loving her children
her day her life
the future unknown but wide open
a woman feeling rightly on her way

© by Signe Eklund Schaefer.
Used with the author's permission.