A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media: First Person

Patience/Acceptance
by John Lyons
December 13, 2006

Of course, while standing in a line,
I find myself rocking back and forth,
mentally and physically (like water lapping on a lake shore),
between patience and impatience.

The clerk, in this instance, is a mystery of motion.
He is at best purposeful, yet completely restrained
To the point of creating madness in the observer.

TOCK TOCK TOCK TOCK
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

The clock in my head, or my own heartbeat filling up the silence?

What gods have devised such torture for me,
to endure merely while mailing a letter ?

I create an alternate universe
in which I leap over the counter and grab his postal stamps,
quickly liberating us all from this self-inflicted theatre of torture.

Who would care if their packages and letters and packets
ever got to their destination ?
We all would feel like something was actually getting done,
and we could move on to something more enjoyable.

It was there, trapped between these two worlds,
that it was my turn, at last,
to step up to the counter with my letter.
The clerk was genuinely pleasant enough
to embarrass me about my treachery and at the same time
magically erase the entire incident by processing my letter.

As I happily moved past the people still in line
I spotted a woman who was suffering
as I was
when I was in the line,
and wisely I let her know
?that it will all be okay once you get to the front of the line?.

About the author:
My family and live in Sterling Colorado, where I work at the local health department and teach an occasional class at the local community college. We enjoy as much outdoors as awe can get, and during the winter we basically read alot. Thank you for bringing joy into radio and our weekends!