Lori Skoglund

Figure It Out     

Did she choose her challenges
   or did she accept them?
Either way,
   it’s always been her way
   to want to find a way.
To figure it out.
   To make it work.
      To help.

Some blending of courage and faith.

She knew her students might not blossom 
   right away,
But the seeds of hope she planted
   and tended
   and defended
Did often sprout.
Sometimes after she was there to see it.

She knew that months must pass again at school
   far from her parents.
So she role-played with her friends,
Acting silly parts while her happiness
   grew real.

She knew her first bike surely would go faster
   if she could only get those training wheels off,
And she was right.
She taught herself to ride.
She taught herself to try.

Now she has learned to back away sometimes.
   To find a way for balance.
   To sit quietly with Peter.
   To be gentle with herself.
 To tend another tiny mustard seed.

And yet I can imagine
   when she opens a new puzzle
   and she pours the pieces out, anticipating,
She leaves straight edges
   mixed in with the others.
Training wheels–who needs them?
She starts with that green misty swath,
   the hardest part,
   the background for the beauty,
So as she nears the end the pieces
   almost find themselves.
The picture flies together.

And she’s breezing on her little bike, beaming.