Selection
by Marguerite Alvis Venable
A woman's heart picks small things out to keep:
A scrap of sunset in a crooked lane,
A certain dress she wore, a wisp of wind
Lifting her hair, the sudden cool of rain.
A woman's heart remembers long and well
Such little things: the turning of a head,
Two hands against a bonfire's ruddy flare,
Songs someone sang, a word somebody said,
A woman's heart will cherish through the years
Some tiny thing: a shadow on the snow,
The echo of a voice, a gentle touch.
I am a woman: that is how I know.