Return

Here’s my draft for today, Saturday 05.11.19.

Return

I hobble off the bus in the near dark
my hip replacements giving me
their usual grief from sitting too long

The huge double gate at the head
of the white gravel pathway to the farmhouse
stands out like an airport runway in the twilight

As I push through the massive gates
I see him in the distance, waving welcome
a bit old to walk out to me now

He has been vigorous in his time, however
has outlived his only son, my father
is ageless, agile, always smiling comfort

I think about how rundown I’ve felt lately
compare my life to the hard one he’s lived
and am ashamed for thinking mine so tough

I speed up, fly as a ghost revisiting my past life
wave to him now, the man who shaped so much
of my early years with fishing and honest labor

I’ve been away too long a time, and there
were times I doubted I’d ever get back here
but I’d made a promise to return, and I have

Grampa, I call out, I’m home