Memory’s lightning flash
Briefly illuminates
Forgotten traces of the past
The smell of lilacs
A tree shaded yard
Forest covered steep cliff rocks
Where sentinel pines stand guard
A small wooden mining house painted white
Father’s large rough hand his gentle might
Gathering humming moths in a Mason jar
Long hot rides in an old black car
Soft covers in a velvet night
Dreams of mermaids and of flight
The spring song of meadowlarks
Fireflies, floating yellow sparks
A cardboard sword too soon bent
On a train trip with grandparents sent
Mother handing me her last cent
As my lonely dog outside pent
grew old without human touch
Figurines of glass gathered dust in mother’s hutch
A Sunday school song
Church sermons that went on too long
Sunday night tag with cousins round barn and trees
Burying ourselves in mountains of dried maple leaves
A Victorian farmhouse with shingled roof
two stories high or more
Cellar, library of religious proof,
attic, dusty memorabilia to explore
An old tire swing high in the limb of a giant oak
Muffled laughter’s ring as aunts, uncles, and grandparents spoke
A cast iron stove, the orange glow and popping of the fire
A pendulum clock, leather sofa, high ceilings, porch chairs woven of wire
Fishing from frost covered seats of a small flat bottomed wooden boat
On a fall fog covered lake with weather too cold for one’s coat
Quiet white winter blankets of snow
Turned to forts and snowmen, some for war, some for show
Sleigh rides, slides, noses too cold to feel
The smell of a warm home cooked meal
Clear skies, stars so bright
The frozen stinging bite, of a frigid endless night
The snows swirling whirlwind of dust
The crunching of its crust
Daffodils poking up through the ice
Shedding my shirt at the sun’s advice
A yearning for summer’s sultry weather
Cherry blossoms, peach and rose buds together
Showing their first hint of green
Robins the hum of bees, the thrill of spring
Eating ripe apricots in a tree house with a friend
The summer breeze rocking the ship as boughs bend
Over schools of grasshoppers swimming in wavy seas of dried fox tails
As we fired our cannon pits under the rustle of vast leafy sails
The whirling, gushing roar of an ice cold mountain creek
Amidst the white bark of quaking aspen, tall pines, and glacial peak
The sudden pull of a fish on the line
Hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelon, my first taste of wine
A long past, warm summer night
The chirp of crickets stars so bright
The perfume of magnolia and scent of jasmine
The intoxicating thrill of first love forbidden
A future that looked so bright
With one that was so perfect, the first fight
Awakening before the sun
For work one wished was already done
Sweat, dirt, fatigue and fears
Long hours, my child’s first tears
So many moves over the years
School finished, jobs lost, new careers
Traveling to a new land
Walking the tropical beaches warm sand
Children\'s laughter, balls and dolls
Now an empty house where no one calls
Their forms grown and gone
No more toys on the fresh cut lawn
At each other we just stare
The weather’s changed, a chill in the air
An eternal love faded, broken hearted
What was most important now departed
Friends and relatives where did they go?
Fallen like dry leafs, under the snow
Framed pictures of faces frozen in time
They no longer feel real
Another place another clime,
Never religious now I kneel
Wrinkles, sagging skin,
Falling hair, a double chin
My father’s face appears in my mirror
What I once feared now grows nearer
The snows of age in my hair today
Cold dark skies
So tired, sleep pulling at my eyes
To nap and let all this pass away