The Lady with the Rainbow Umbrella

She could take a taxi

But she likes the walk

When she goes by the bakery

Al comes out

And gives her a cupcake

Which she eats

As she walks

She’s too old to be flirting

Even with someone her own age

But she accepts the cupcake

And tells him what a nice man he is

And when is he going to find a nice woman to marry?

He laughs at her

And goes back inside

She carries an umbrella just in case

A rainbow one

That she bought one day

When it started to rain unexpectedly

That was the last day

She was going to go out unprepared

The man selling the umbrellas

Only had black ones

And rainbow ones

So she chose the rainbow

Even though it was too flashy for her

She didn’t want to be walking

With a black umbrella

She didn’t like

How that would look

She’d choose silly over morbid

She decided, and gave the man five dollars

People think she’s walking to a cemetery

To see her husband’s gravestone

Or to jail, to see her incarcerated son

Maybe to a hospital

To see her daughter

Lying in a coma

The steady beep beep beep

Playing in the background

But the Lady with the Rainbow Umbrella

Does not have a deceased husband

Or a son or a daughter

She has a sister she sees frequently

Nieces and nephews

Grand-nieces and nephews

And enough assorted cousins

To keep her busy on holidays

And whenever she begins to feel lonely

Which, surprisingly to most people, isn’t all that often

Every day she walks to the pier

Where she gets an ice cream cone

And sits on whatever bench is free

So she can watch the waves

And the kids

Playing on the beach

People see a little old woman

Making her way through the world

And they assume there’s been tragedy

And heartache

And a sad story resting on her back

Despite the umbrella

They assume she’s seventy-five years of grief

Just waiting to go to sleep

And not wake up

And even if they could see her

Sitting on the pier

With her umbrella

Sitting quietly next to her

They’d assume she was grieving

Or lost, or in need of a friend

They could never imagine

That her whole life

This is what she’s been waiting for

Calm and quiet

A beautiful ocean

And the sound of kids laughing

And splashing each other

Ice cream

Cupcakes

Sunshine

And all the time in the world

And when she gets up to go home

She opens the umbrella

And places it over her head

Even though it’s not raining

Because it makes her feel like a young girl

With a parasol

Just going

For a stroll