The Things That Are Over

By Wendy Freborg

Her favorite things

were the things that were over:

the school year completed,

the birthday party done,

the big game finished,

the holiday over,

the visitors gone.

Home from vacation, she would say,

ā€Iā€™m so glad to be back!ā€

For her, the overness was all.

She longed for status quo ā€”

change brought stress, tension, anxiety.

While we mourned her passing,

it was tempting to suspect,

she was glad it was over.

 

Wendy Freborg is a former editor and retired social worker whose first nationally published poem appeared in the teen magazine Ingenue in 1964. More recently, her work has been featured in Right Hand Pointing, Peeking Cat Literary Review, Red Lemon Review, WestWard Quarterly, The Orchards Poetry Journal and in the anthology Marriage Lifespan Vol. 6. She has one husband, one son, two grandchildren, enough friends and too many doctors. The pleasures in her life are her family, travel, crossword puzzles, learning new things, and remembering old times.