jaybeasley2

at the back of my study

is a box within a box

full of long lost letters from long ago

and I sometimes pull one out

and give it a read but

now is the time

to throw it out and

get rid of everything that is not

important because when

I pass there is nobody who

would be interested and

it is not as though

I have enough desire to hold on

to long lost words from far in the past

because those days are dead now and

I have to face the fact

that even the thousands of

poems and songs are just

going to go away

like leaves in the

breeze but it was fun

while it lasted

putting the final touches on a

last piece of a house I want to keep

after the past has been said goodbye to

Yawning after a long days work is done

in that bedroom I was first reading under a blanket

next to that was the room grandpa taught me poker

getting to first be with a girlfriend downstairs

coming home from the last track meet that year

opportunity to learn pool that summer and

maybe not hide my first beer while I hear grandma’s jokes

puppies being chosen for work on the farm

leaning forward to sun my back while using the lawnmower

inching quietly across the porch with a drink at sunset

chasing the butterfly or swinging on a rope

after dinner reading by the fireplace

treating myself to cherries and milk at midnight

every morning we discussed the teacher’s history

dedicated to the peace that comes with family

growing in many directions and many ways

awesome collection of the

mighty snowstorms that find us

eventually disappeared into the darkness of a den

soft edge past evolves into hard line future