Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 08:24:08 -0400
From: Billy Mason
Subject: a Chatham County inspired poem
our homes becoming old houses in Chatham County
wm mason
copyright all rights reserved
10-26-09
now that decades
have come and gone
since first hammers
were swung
block and rock
foundations
in deep trenches
we learned from
the old ones we hold dear
who allowed us to nest
as we found our legs
our hearts our wings
we set about building
to hold our bodies
only to find our souls
found rest we seldom
had known
now these homes
handbuilt with such care
on shoestrings
on dreams
on love and despair
begin to launch
our children
finding silences returning
we had forgotten
were so vast
of all the times knowing
the creaking of the spring
had in joyful reunion
with a passing butterfly
let loose the screen door
to slap back hard against
the door frame
sending shivers thru the house
the gardens
and the wood
now how dear to us
how we long to hear
even a single time
our childs energy
suspended in this place
and then the grandchildren
begin to arrive
weddings and funerals
are where we see
old friends
our stories shared of our children
their hardships and their successes
what confusion they must confront
and how we are made young
again when their children
call our names
even the sweetness of the ache
recalling our shortcomings
our mistakes
we must let go
we are still called to grow
until there is nothing left
and as the silences take their share
of our beloved homes
felling our loves
pruning our stock of friends
how bright our eyes
that we have been part
of such glory such grace….
and as the honeysuckle vines
the canes
the other wild things
begin to reclaim our work
our landscapes
in the quiet
after wind swept summer rains
the wonder filled voices
the births the deaths
marriage and divorce
the laughter which transcends our pains
has become the very earth we cherish
we come to know we are part of this
and it is among these
sacred moments
we always will remain…….
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