Love Poem: Sara
Michael Ellis Avatar
Written by: Michael Ellis

Sara

Sara tiptoes across
The kitchen floor
To get some heat
She opens the oven door

Sheets in the window
Sara calls them curtains
Mind weary, Soul hurtin'
Sara

Sara lives by the train tracks
At Sixteenth and O
Her Mama calls it a shack
But to Sara it’s quite comfortable

Flour and water
Two minute gravy
Don't rattle those pots too loudly, Sara
Might startle that Baby

Sara empty, cold and lonely
Sara with too much time to think
Sara humble, beautiful and homely
Draws water from the kitchen sink

Sara thought she married the perfect guy
But soon as he heard that baby cry-
He left a two page note:
The first page said, I love you
The second page said, Goodbye
For a whole month he tried

Sara's mother told her
That he was just too young
But Sara didn't listen
He promised Sara he'd be the one
She'd always been missin'

Two pinches of cornstarch
From the box on the shelf
Sara says, Hell,
He was just a baby himself

Nine months
Sara bore the burden
Feet tired, head hurtin'
So many times she wasn't certain


Sara pours vinegar on lettuce
Just enough to call it salad
Memories of him grow stronger
Sara tries not to think about it

One child- A year later a divorce
And the White knight
Who was supposed to save the day
Must have fallen from his horse
Or maybe he lost his way

Men of means offer her money
And pose a promise or two
Sara laughs as if it’s funny
Saying, You're just like sugar
Tryna call itself honey
You're just too sweet to be true

Sara opens the refrigerator door
Takes out the potatoes
From the night before
Then Sara just thinks some more:

"We can let June keep the Baby.
Or we can put it up for adoption."
But Sara knew that wasn't an option
Sara recalled the anger in his voice:
"Babe, please don't force me to make a choice."

Sara cried as she watched him go
His pain he was too proud to show
He said, Sara, please don't cry
Then he said, Goodbye

The only love she had ever known-
Now Sara and the Baby were alone
In his Blue travel sack
Everything in the world
That he ever owned

But sweet Sara understood
The baby that he feared
Probably all in this world
That he had ever done of good

From the balcony Sara watched
As he walked down the railroad tracks
She knew that once he crossed L Street
He would never ever turn back

Sara watched him
As far as her eyes could go
Then he disappeared at Thirteenth and O
Sara just closed her window

And Sara went inside
And Sara cried