Time Waits For No One

On nights like this the back porch was his haven. Removed, so he could focus on a poem, yet connected to the family inside by the light from the kitchen window. But this night was different. There was a sense of expectancy in the air, as if the world was holding its breath in anticipation. He was sitting on the porch to work on a poem, and wait for his newly driver licensed son to get home from a party without being obvious and embarrassing both of them. He could not fully comprehend that his son was headed to college. Where had the time gone? He remembered him having to use his hands for balance to climb the deck steps like it was yesterday. But he also knew it was time for him to go, explore, become his own man. He raised him for this moment. His son was ready. The question was, was he? The silence of the night was interrupted by the scratching of dead leaves on the deck, yet the flowers were in full bloom. The moon was sailing across the sky, throwing star bursts through the trees. When headlights appeared in the driveway, he went inside, unseen. time moves on winter gate crashes summer dead leaves fall