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DEAR ORPHEUS  |
Outside the dwelling,
tears were welling
When approaching our old house we’d left some 15 years ago
Where cherub-kids were born and rode the swings
And slid down stairs and scribbled, laughing, into color books
And naught’ly spat out food they couldn’t stand
In hidden vents, without our knowing.
The sidewalks where they learned to cycle
Hadn’t changed, except for fading of their tire treads--
Still rutted deep, but only in our minds.
The memories
surged in a flood, just like the tears,
When walking through the garden past the spot
Where once we buried pets beloved
(Such as mice and birds) the kids named Zippy, Mickey, Perky,
Gravesites getting solemn ceremonies under homemade cross,
Despondent children standing as the front-row mourners.
We’re
ushered in the house now, suddenly to recognize
The chunks of life we’d left behind
Still resonating through the varnished wooden panels.
I resolved while choking back emotion,
I cannot go there any more.
But remodeling
had changed this home ingeniously:
A showcase kitchen, and a basement rumpus room addition,
Plus enlarged and spacious patio with tiles and trellis
All quite worthy of some Martha Stewart design.
The current family’s persona also brought an upbeat spirit
Through this metamorphosis, this home
That’s every bit as happy as was ours back then.
Never
try to turn back clocks,
Remembering the sun’s eclipse, the tremors, nightmares,
neighbors,
Bruises, cuddles, Christmases, and oh, those gifts of kindergarten
art-work
Juvenile, yet radiating love far stronger than a host of diamonds.
Space
and time dance on to new coordinates
And wrench us from our downy status quo.
Our memories dwell best in our photo albums,
Scrapbooks and, ideally, close relations
Now rekindled with the kids we loved so then--
The kids we love so now, though absent.
But will that deathless two-way ardor wax identical
Today with kids-turned-adults, big as we?
©2008 by Paul Hertelendy. The illustration is a staff artist's vision of an image from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA.This poem first posted Jan. 28, 2008.
Paul Hertelendy is critic
and webmaster for the arts-review web site www.artssf.com, and
is also the Piedmont (CA) Centennial poet laureate. To visit his
website, click here: PAUL
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