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Famous
The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence, which knew it would inherit the earth before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth, more famous than the dress shoe, which is famous only to floors.
The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men who smile while crossing streets, sticky children in grocery lines, famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous, or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular, but because it never forgot what it could do.
Poet Naomi Shahib Nye is considered one of the leading female poets of the American Southwest. Her poetry “lends a fresh perspective to ordinary events, people, and objects.” To learn more about her and her work, follow this link.
(Submitted by Dr. Ellen Singer, MD FACP CPCC PCC as a reminder to our readers of the hidden work we do as internists, generalists, and systems thinkers)
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