A Deep River Year - 2017

April is here at last, after a long and gloomy March,which came in with snow and left with heavy rain. The whole month was cold and raw. Its days teased us with an occasional glimpse of Spring and then turned on us again. The difficult challenges of life--illness, disappointment, bad news--always seem to weigh on us more heavily when there is no respite in the way of sunshine and growing things.

And now, there is another death among us--one of those who gives our small town a special character. John was the man behind the counter at our local pizza takeout place. He was jovial and kind, the sort of person who always served you a gooey, steaming slice of pizza seasoned with a smile. The folks who worked at town hall loved his meatball grinders and the special pie he invented just for them, and so did my son, who never went into the storefront shop with any money but always came out with something to eat. If the girl scouts had a function, or the kids in the Christmas pageant at the church, he'd always throw in an extra pizza or two. He believed that what you gave away came back to you.


At the end of this miserly month of March, the pizza shop window is decked with flowers and messages of gratitude for a guy who made us feel like Spring might be coming after all.


Pizza Man


A bald Hungarian in a
 take-out pizza place
 with Greek decorations
 on the sign out front
 is what we love in this
 small New England town.
 And when he dies
 suddenly,
 when his heart stops,
 it stops beating
 for him, and for his children,
 and for the young man
 with a brain injury
 who has no money
 but leaves the steamy storefront
 with an Italian grinder,
 warm, with oil and vinegar,
 and a smile wrapped around him
 like wax paper around a sandwich.
 And that benediction,
 not offered on the menu,
 was the most delicious thing
 that was given as a blessing ,
 like extra cheese or sausage,
 in this sometimes surprising world.


--Timothy Haut, 2017