Soapbox

Time Undone

I actually think this one was better.

Time Undone

In the kitchen
thumbing through a box of odds and ends~
my fingers grow still at the sight.
The colors have faded after so many years
but I can see so clearly—

I am looking through an open window
and if I reach, my fingers will find
not paper~ but trees, and grass,
And his face.

My grandpa
stands on the bank of the Big Darby creek
wearing his funny old-man sneakers
and his fishing hat.
He smiles at me
as the sun dapples through the walnut trees
that shade the riverbank.

I hear the rush of water over rocks
and then his rumbling baritone chuckle,
So, do you want to go fishing, little one?
and oh, Grandpa, I do,
just one more time.

We’ll get the canoe
and I’ll make you proud
with how I’ve learned to paddle.
I reach to take
his rough, calloused hand in mine~

but I am clutching only paper
in a box of old photographs
and the refrigerator hums to life
drowning out the fading echo
of water over rocks.