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soon, meaning, when I can, meaning, not yet, be patient, the world don't turn upon your every need and whim. Or "the dogs will be back home directly, I reckon," "the preacher will be finished," "your daddy will see to you," "supper will be laid out"— all "directly," which never meant the straight line between two surveyor's points or an arrow's flight, but rather, by the curve, the indirect, the arc of life and breath, and she was right, and when she passed or was passing, I could not say which, in a patchwork quilt, the makeshift room, the sweet hymn notes sung neighborly across the hall, she whispered, "Learn to tell what needs doing quick as a bluesnake and what will take the slow way, full of care and mulling, be fair in every dealing with beasts and people and all else alive, and surely, my dear, He will come for you in His good time, the way He comes for all of us, directly."
Copyright ©2003 R.T. Smith. Originally published in the Oxford American, July/August 2003.
R. T. Smith edits SHENANDOAH for Washington and Lee University. His books include Messenger (LSU), The Hollow Log Lounge (Illinois) and Brightwood, (LSU) which includes "Directly." |
