by Ashley Gin

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Up close watch the water drip off soggy tips of hunchbacked leaves

Soaked and bent the willows weep

The forest sobs

And Tomas peeped 

Through the windows

At the family inside

Mother daughter

Daughter father

Elderly

Aging

Getting lost in thought

Eruptions in anger

Cannot walk

Solitude

Alone

The emptiness bump growing bigger and bigger

Thinking now of Grams and Grampa 

And farther back too

Back to 

Pa Pa

Ma

Ma and Pa

Ta

Time before

La De Da

Time after

STOP

So it goes

Life moves on 

Goes and goes

Til riddled with disease

Go back to where you came from

Old Hen daughter

Stag

The buck stops here

It’s the end of the line

Looking for gold

You’ll be fine

In the plane

Where there is no time

It’s okay

No worry

You’ll have plenty of children then 

In heaven.

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📸 Featured Image: Original photo by Elena Shavlovska/Shutterstock.com. Photo editing by Emerald staff.

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