Pilgrimage

They fought the tide to own some land A fight I did not understand They fought the plow, they fought the drought, they fought the debt But yet, by God, ... they owned the pride In retrospect, I'm still ashamed My heart and soul were not engaged A flippant mood was all I brought, with sighs, and whys and skipping rocks, the day we made the pilgrimage A stranger to this twilight zone I was about to step upon the moon, A cratered space of rocks and sage, of rolling hills, with no escape She saw it differently, of course And though her bones were weary, worn her eyes were strong. She saw a home Her age was then, what mine is now, It had been her life. It was her vow to come again, just one more time. Ten years old, I'd been dragged along I couldn't the great attraction Overlooked her deep reaction I missed the tears within her eyes She scanned the place she left behind Her gray eyes drinking up the sun, I saw dust, I saw the sand, Where she saw beauty, I saw none ..... Nothing more than a sea of weeds, crumbling brick, the rocky creek A place to shuffle restless feet The years passed by, and I would learn a home is more than bricks and stone The photograph I hold today means more to me than words can say In the rubble she had found one valiant rosebush left behind while smiling in the summer sun, among the rocky hills I wish I could go back to then But I can smile,… remembering. _________________________________________________