Here and There

It’s said you can’t go home again,

A fact of which I’m aware…

I miss my friends, no longer here,

And places no longer there.

I’m in such a better place now,

Away from the farm, betrayals and hurt;

Watching whales and eagles from windows, but

I still miss my hands in that dirt.

Photo: Edward Gorey Illustration

Improbable Logic (The Fear of Flying)

I was so afraid of flying,

I wanted to jump from an airborne plane.

My apprehension about aging

Is conjuring up logic, much the same.

It maybe avoidance of suffering,

The fear of any pain…

An irrational superstition,

That fate hexes me again.

It ain’t no fear of dying,

Nor even the fear to fly…

I love my life and this planet,

But I fear the word goodbye.

I was so afraid of flying,

I wanted to jump from an airborne plane.

My apprehension about aging

Is conjuring up logic, much the same.

Winter Smoke Signals

Speeding on a winter highway,

Passing farm houses in the fog…

I caught the scent of a chimney

Belching a sweet pine log.

Instantly it was Christmas day,

In nineteen fifty-four…

Also a campfire at Yosemite

And so many memories more.

A glass of wine at a ski lodge,

The hike at 6^th grade science camp…

Major forest fires in Truckee

Scented oil in a dorm room lamp.

The Airwick in mom’s bathroom,.

The pine tree on a rear-view mirror…

I saw sixty years of memories,

Within seconds in fifth gear.