One was born in Cortland, in upstate NY, the daughter of immigrants, and stayed. After leaving school at 13, she worked the factory floor, raised her children and tended her faith. The other was born in Hastings-on-the-Hudson in Westchester, NY, went to Wellesley, Cornell, and eventually arrived in Cortland, then later traveled the world. It was in Cortland, where the two lives touched for a time.

They lived the same years in completely different Americas. The same century held them both, the way a century holds everyone, indifferently, without explanation.

The distance between them was not talent or character or will. It was birth, the oldest distance there is.


From the piece:

held fast
left

she counted beads
she counted words

her world held her
she held her own

she punched in
she signed up

he worked at a factory
he worked at court

she made room
she made do

she stayed at the machine
she kept moving

they brought the world
she went to the world

she became a widow
she became a widow

close to God
close to the horizon

 she was loved.