Walking the floor. Sewn into our skins.

~ Live & Learn

The walkway to the entrance is a shadow, sprayed clean, still moist in its elongated drying cycle in the early morning humidity in August – the industrial hose is wrapped tightly in the hidden wall closet.

The silver trash can standing a few feet from the elevator has been wiped down and emptied.

The rug under the desk is now free of the paper chads that spilled from the three-hole punch that was toppled over when rushing to answer the phone.

The trash can under the desk with the wax paper Chick-fil-A wrapper has been emptied, along with the paper pocket which held the home fries.

The paper dispenser in the men’s room is replenished. The bathroom floors have been scrubbed with a fresh lemon scented cleaner. The sinks are clean and dry, the toilets wiped down, the mirrors are spot-free and gleam.

My desk top has been wiped clean, yesterday wiped away.

My hands rest on the desktop.

Her hands rest under her head.  She sleeps now, and she sleeps hard. She’ll be up in a few hours catching a bus for her second job, laundry and folding sheets for a Comfort Inn.

Investigators dusting this scene and applying a flourescent dye stain and a burst of orange light would find her fingerprints everywhere. The desks. The computer screens. The walls. The floors. The door knobs. The sinks. The toilets.

Kafka was right.

People are sewn into their skins and can’t alter the seams.

The phone rings, breaking the spell.

I’m back, back in my skin.

~ DK

Notes:

33 thoughts on “Walking the floor. Sewn into our skins.”

  4. Pingback: I can not alter my seams; at least not with my own hands~ | Open Studio

  5. You have the wonderful ability, Dave, of entering another person’s world. I believe that doing that brings us to appreciation and honoring of others. Thanks for this glimpse into her world and yours, my friend.

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  9. What you have written has shown your appreciation for those who help make your day easier and cleaner. You have honored them and shown your humility…with your early and at times late schedule you have crossed paths with the maintenance man going about his preparing the building entry, in the early morning and when working late you have stepped aside so the lady can accomplish her office cleaning…they both have seen in your eyes, smile, voice, demeanor the appreciation, kindness and gentleness of your soul…they remember you and how you interact with them…and I think of this: “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”.- Mother Teresa…We all matter and you showing respect illustrates the act of human decency and thus Love…people need to connect and united by showing Love…Thank you Dave for Shinning Bright with your thoughts and actions…

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  10. And she is honouring those for whom she labours. I’m suspecting that she, too, has expectations of herself to be the best that she can be; honouring her station ~ leaving her imprint upon her world. Satisfaction a necessity. A job well done. A clear conscience.

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    1. Your comment so reminded me of:

      If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music … Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.

      ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

      Thank you Carolyn. I fully agree.

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  13. Dear David – You are a man of great empathy, I read this in your words so much of the time. I know you live in a different world from the woman who left her fingerprints and her invisible presence throughout the space which you inhabit during the day. Most people, truly MOST people would never consider what you have thought about and written about. You surprise me all the time, as you remind the rest of us that the fabric of our lives is more intricate we could ever imagine. Sometimes I will look at another person and try to feel the magnitude and the miracle of a life. I think with certainty that you do that too. So much love to you my most enlightened friend.

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  14. There is no pigeon hole for you, buddy. Snappy, snarky business maven AND philosopher poet AND Zen student of life AND hard-nosed dad AND heart sponge. The juxtaposition creates slips in the Space/Time Continuum that leak truth and sudden beauty. It’s a privilege to sit on the event horizon and take in the spectacle.

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  15. I so absolutely love when you share your personal writings. We get to see what a wonderful man you are; how you observe the every day and lift it up for all to see and appreciate.
    Thank you.
    (Not that I don’t also love your sharing snippets of others’ works as well, you know!)

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