Attic window, evening hangs low
Falling on almanacs, old 78’s
And a crystal radio
Memory sprawls between the walls
And over hours spent on years of waiting
For a larger life to call
But isn’t that the way it happens?
So common and right on cue
That world I had, the good and bad
Passed me by before I knew
Living room chair, still see you there
Pinned down by aging ghosts gathered in the gloom
Of your middle-distance stare
You crossed the sea, shared that story
Though he came home and took it out on himself
And you saved it all for me
But maybe that’s the way it happens
If the scars are kept from view
That world we had, for good or bad
Passed us by before we knew
Front steps losing ground to a street
You wouldn’t recognize as yours
Not sad so much as true -
The wheels turn fast beyond these doors
Shadows cast in magnesium
And rendered sepia or gray
They’re all I’ve left to hold
Here at the long end of the day
But isn’t that the way it happens
When seasons collect their due?
This world I had, the good and bad
Passed me by before I knew
