That Was Then, This is Now
Then:
The sun rises.
My world is small.
Everything has yet to happen.
One day, I'll go to school and learn important things -
Like my brothers -
I wish I was a year older.
I wonder, "who am I?"
The whole wide world teaches me.
There's inside, with mom, and my big brothers -
And the record player.
The magic transpires when the little platter spins,
And I find my heart.
It sprouts, sings, flies me to my friends -
John Henry, Ol' Dan Tucker, Clementine, and Puff -
And pretty waltzes, mom likes them too.
There's outside - where I find peace.
One day, they'll be sorry.
The morning air, so bright and clear.
Exotic plants and animals everywhere - all in my backyard -
The sun shines through sycamore leaves, swinging and swaying in the breeze.
On the ground, light shapes and shadows dance,
Keeping time to a growing me.
Leaves and branches stretch.
Butterflies, gaily dressed, trace a fascinating path -
Tour guides to my backyard universe.
The black and brown bumblebees -
Scary, fuzzy, fat, and cute.
Below, the earth's wiggling treasures -
Under rocks, under the dirt.
Pill bugs, shy and scared.
Potato bugs in ugly glory.
Oops, I didn't mean for my shovel to cut that worm!
But it's OK, now there's two.
Above, the sky -
How high does it go? Forever?
Forever, a mystery, forever...
Buttermilk clouds
Look like the beanstalk giant's floor,
Or maybe the floor of heaven.
God blinks.
Heaven looms.
Everything has happened.
I don't miss the 40-year career -
The late-night phone calls and sixty-hour weeks.
I wonder "who am I?"
I wish I was a year younger.
Nobody has discovered the fountain of youth.
My only hope - a grandchild -
Don't tell my son.
Now, my grandchildren are the kids I tutor math -
They don't know it.
Most don't care about triangles or sums.
They're learning who they are.
For them, everything is yet to come.
I've done, for better or worse, all I can.
Everything has happened.
The world is small.
The sun sets -
Now.
Copyright ©
David Crandall
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