A Moment in Time

Swiftly she tilted the pan
as she poured the steaming pasta
into the waiting colander.
Just as she was ready
to drop the pan into the soapy water,
she saw two long strands
of pasta still clinging
to the bottom of the pan.
She hesitated,
and then she suddenly saw herself,
a child again,
standing in that cold kitchen
that dark winter night
so long ago
in the waning days of the war,
staring at her empty plate,
scraped clean,
licked clean,
when her mother was not looking
and she thought:
Oh, what I would have given
for those two long strands of pasta then

Carefully she lifted them up,
and then ate them
slowly,
savoring each bite
as she would have
those many years ago
during that time of great hunger.