October 14, 2014 Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads/The Return of Spring

The Return of Spring

i want to think                                                           it was OK

                                                            you died that day

just a few days                                                          after the mr toad’s wild ride

                                                            the crazy ambulance driver

i wonder                                                                     was it a job no one else would have

summer had just begun                                           honeysuckle in the air

still a boy                                            in jeans           with tousled hair

my one and only                   Son                              you were

now I wear                             a lock of your hair     in a locket of blue

                                                                                                in the form of a robin’s egg

i touch it often                                                           with my fingertips

i think of you                                                             your spirit lingers here

with the birds                                                who come to feed

                                                eat the seed               express their anger

                                                                                                they have to share

in my mind                i wonder                     through the town                  where you lived

so far from home                                                      you settled down

became a man                                                                       your father would have be so proud

i hold a space                                                             all in white

it is for you                                                                 in tower cracked

over time                                                                    repairs are made

the warmth of                       spring                         will return

October 12, 2014