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My wife and I have known each other since the 10th grade and we have 2 children. We've been married over half our lives, I can't imagine it any other way.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Yesterday's Never Gone

It was past the time when the hour hand’s
Revolutions were painted with tears.
It was past the moment when a single red rose,
Resting on oak, lowered itself to be covered
In Indiana clay.
It was closer to the days,
Those days,
When I sat among scattered papers,
Cigarette butts, and torn photographs.

I could feel loneliness the way I could smell
Spring coming to Madison.
The mist from Big Clifty clinging to a moss
Eaten maple.
Laughter bellowing from the sandstone that
Framed the sleeping brook.
March air kissing red cheeks,
Hearts skipping beats, in love with life.

I stared out the west window for years.
There was the hill we once sat on in the
Shade of an oak.
A blue, wool blanket pressing the crabgrass
Flat while we talked, chuckled, remembered.
Ants formed a conga line to my ham and
Cheese sandwich,
The way tears licked their way to the
Corners of her smile when I bit into it.

The path that runs through the chicken yard,
The path that crosses the Kissing Bridge,
That path that creeps past the rotted Model A
Ford that hobos sometimes sleep in.
The path when I bring her flowers,
The path that leads to the chipped, rusty back
Gate and a sign that reads
Rosewood Cemetery.

It was long after we said “I do” in a white
Washed church with no steeple
To a preacher wearing a black tie.
It was past the time when I sat among the
Cattails holding a lace handkerchief bearing
“J.S.” in one corner,
While slowly turning my gold wedding band
Between scarred fingers.

It was when I fell between the snow peas and
The sweet corn,
My overalls stained in black earth,
Wind burning the lower lids of my eyes,
That I saw her standing near the porch,
Where she’d always been,
Wearing a cotton dress,
Hanging my shirts on the line.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I wondered if this one would pop up. :)

Starting to collect cookie ingredients...I can hardly wait!