Loving Care #238

//barbara Jay

 I remember the clear cellophane cap
Covering the muddied black mixture
So that no drips would stain her face

Loving Care #238
Applied almost religiously to her grays
Must have been a nod to her youth
To another time when hair did what it was supposed to do
Be a crown of glory.

Loving Care #238
Sunday afternoons – a 4-hour ordeal/transformation
from start to finish.

Until shaving made it unnecessary
Made it a long-ago routine
Made it time and money wasted
Loving Care #238

Same kitchen sink
Same hands
Same mirror

Only now the reflection cringed.
The reflection was bald.
No more Loving Care #238 needed here
No more clear cellophane cap
The only stains were tears.

//Barbara Jay lives in New York. She is a public school teacher and a proud mother of three.