Hootch maid
where are you
some 30 years hence?
Hootch maid,
I’ve often
thought of you
“since”.
He was so strange
upon his return;
We didn’t make it
and I hated to learn
that while I had waited
and worried and prayed,
he was safe in your arms
and quite unafraid.
Hootch maid, I hope
that the years have been kind
to the one who was often
a face in my mind.

Christina Sharik
October 1999