She used to lay the bacon
strip by strip so that noses
would twickle and awaken
in graduated doses.
Their scurrying has slowed now
with the years—and stopped, of late.
Relieved of rote and load now
she stays in bed past eight
in her quiet, empty nest
which is, she has confessed,
as she is getting tired
of her long-deserved rest,
the unexpected guest
undesired.
James B. Nicola is the author of six collections of poetry, the latest being Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense. His decades of working in the theater culminated in the nonfiction book Playing the Audience: The Practical Guide to Live Performance, which won a Choice award.
