Month: January 2019

When the car pulls up at the curb
and the children bound up the path
the grandparents wait with a smile
and the family is no longer apart.

This love has little to do with chance
or the sure way your deep eyes dance,
it does not depend on circumstance
come all weathers, it was built to last.

‘Can daddy undo his choice,’
the small boy asks
wanting back the way it was,
his life lined up
like the row of toy cars
on the living room floor.

The sail boats and trailer yachts
cut white furrows on the bay,
while tethered to the shore
I sit and watch their lazy way.

Older brother of six years
shows the younger at three
each footstep
and how to place it on the tree
with one hand here
and a foothold there
you’ll be ok
if you follow me.

Carry me, oh carry me
for the way is clothed in darkness
and the path not easily seen;
put me down, oh put me down
when the lamplight shows me
where those footprints have been.

A brown bomber,
a lazy breakfast, a wide beach,
deep sea and waves;
cold beer at the Sawmill,
laughter on the field,
a late-night toast to the day
and all is well.

‘Significance has eluded me’,
I spoke down the line,
‘time has changed sides,
my dreams thin and transparent.’
‘Oh I think not,’ he said,
‘just take another breath’.

Some days are good,
others not quite so;
I need your song
in my darkness
to sooth the rough way
that waits up ahead.

The storm hammers less severe now,
her heart less broken but for grace
these years carried with dignity
accepting of time and place.