by Ashley Gin
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
Itโs the end of the line
Looking for gold
Youโll be fine
In the plane
Where there is no time
Itโs okay
No worry
Youโll have plenty of children then
In heaven.
๐ธ Featured Image: Original photo by Elena Shavlovska/Shutterstock.com. Photo editing by Emerald staff.
Before you move on to the next story โฆ Please consider that the article you just read was made possible by the generous financial support of donors and sponsors. The Emerald is a BIPOC-led nonprofit news outlet with the mission of offering a wider lens of our regionโs most diverse, least affluent, and woefully under-reported communities. Please consider making a one-time gift or, better yet, joining our Rainmaker Family by becoming a monthly donor. Your support will help provide fair pay for our journalists and enable them to continue writing the important stories that offer relevant news, information, and analysis. Support the Emerald!