Laughter As Salty As Tears

Her laughter is as salty as tears From toiling in the salt pans of this city Not many people could be like her Relying on salt to fill her daily bowl So whenever she walks into someone's life It is with a gesture of bringing new savor Like a finely made condiment shaker. With her companions she used to pour out wild words, That shuttled through time, leapt epochs of history; The soul-flights she made were worthy of pride Because with every youthful step she took She looked beyond sharp stones of suspicion, And skipped over the roadblocks of ill-will, But over time the earth-energy of such things Did so much damage to tender feet That her road at mid-slope Felt like a carpet stuck with pins. Some countrymen haven't gotten their fill Of attaching themselves to absolute authority, So Jesus has now become their new guarantee, But she drank in Bible stories from age three Like milk of human nature to feed her sympathy. She embraced the calling of secular nun And never failed to keep Jesus in her heart, But watching Christian culture taken to extremes Helped to sharpen her sense of surreal irony.