Portents

We are the kind who believed 
that even small gestures made
in this material world could change
what might have been a loaded 
outcome— It's why my mother 
had the floorboards torn up
and relaid horizontally across 
the threshold, so the household
luck would not run out the door.
But we no longer have that house—
nor all the treasured things we kept 
in its rooms. We are in temporary 
homes caring for or cared for 
by others. We listen to the wind 
part the willows, watch the blue 
and gold rowboats move back 
and forth across the lake. 
Count the  moths drawn to
the lamps in our rooms.