FIFTY SIX YEARS - Poem

 

FIFTY SIX YEARS

 

(Copyright 2015 by Dave Kiffer)

 

Fifty six years is not much

Geologically, not enough

To carve a river in a plain,

Not enough to evolve a bird

From a flightless lizard,

It is barely enough to turn

A pond into a marsh, or to

Grow a tree from a seedling

 

And yet, that is the time which

You have always been there,

Standing tall, rooted against

The October storms that have

Shook, bending us back against

Our always protruding selves

Where you were always going

To inhabit the present tense

 

And so it has been a month

Since you rattled off ahead

Once again clearing the path

Once again moving forward

Once again breaking trail

Across that relentless muskeg,

That darkening field where

Nothing is solid to the touch

 

I stand here waiting, not sure

If it is safe, if it is prudent

To follow your fading steps,

This is no fairy tale, there are

No flavored bread crumbs,

There is no blank check

To cache along side the bank

of this river charging ahead

 

I am left with the fear that

Fifty six years will not prove

Nearly enough time to grasp,

Geologically or otherwise

How to reach ahead and turn

The pages of this evolution

On my own, quickly enough

To avoid the precipice beyond

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