<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The Patience of Ordinary Things</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">It is a kind of love, is it not?</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">How the cup holds the tea,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Or toes. How soles of feet know</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Where they’re supposed to be.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been thinking about the patience</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Of ordinary things, how clothes</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Wait respectfully in closets</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And soap dries quietly in the dish,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And towels drink the wet</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">From the skin of the back.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And the lovely repetition of stairs.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And what is more generous than a window?</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Pat Schneider</span></div></body></html>