Someone Will Be Right With You
By Laura Grace Weldon
Even the book I bring is not enough
to keep me from watching the man tasked
with patient intake. He may be new to the job
or simply struggle with what’s required to
cope in a time when everyone seems angry.
Whatever mysterious power transfers emotion
is at work when I sign in at his window.
I feel myself gulp and stammer too,
his hurried keystrokes through my fingers,
his forehead sheen on my face.
The name he wears on a lanyard
is turned around and I’m glad
the angry woman across from him now
can’t use it to slice her fury
farther inside with the hissing words
we hear from our seats.
“I’m sorry” he repeats,
mantra of all of us who displease
the world’s scolders, mockers, ragers.
He finally manages what she demands,
hands over her papers
with a deference no one deserves.
I’m called up next and
notice the soft hairs at his neck,
his half smile shrug when I sympathize.
As he leans over to grab a page
from the copier I see the name
on the other side of his ID. I will not
share it in this poem as a kindness,
the only protection I can offer him.
Laura Grace Weldon lives in a township too tiny for traffic lights where she works as a book editor, teaches writing workshops, serves as Braided Way editor, and chronically maxes out her library card. Laura was Ohio’s 2019 Poet of the Year and is the author of four books.
Photo credit: Allan Rostron via a Creative Commons license.
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