Sixteen Again

Sixteen Again

Drove west to help a friend...

and put on The Byrds.

For nearly an hour

I was 16 again.

Volume up, bass thumping

Singing harmony with Jim and David

Turn Turn Turn

Mr. Tambourine Man

Anthems that had rocked my world.

I sang as only a 66 year old man

Can sing 50 year old songs

And I was 16 again.

Apple Picking

Apple Picking

Its a long drive to Romeo

just to pick apples

but

the sun shone all afternoon

and my wife was beside me

and the apples waited for us.

Our up stretched hands beckoned them.

Come down we said

and they did. 

We two

She plays the piano

and if I know the song

I’ll join her, singing.

Her fingers falter sometimes

and my voice,

well, its begun to falter too.

We are of an age

She and I.

May 1972

May 1972

After Dad died

          I had dreams about him

Still alive

and I would run to him

hug him deliriously

          Daddy, I would cry

and awaken, tear sodden.

Then one time I told him

Dad

          In my dream I told him

Dad

      you died

                  you can’t keep coming back.

 

And I never saw him anymore.