who knew
my old house creaks
settles, little sounds
hard to hear;
lately I've noticed
that and the humming
of the a/c compressor
of the refrigerator
who knew
when all I loved
was the shuffling
of my heart on
hardwoods, the
click-clack of too
long nails needing
to be trimmed and
the near barks
when fuzzy things invaded
Their yard
these eight years
they had a house
a house that creaks and hums
who knew
to ether gone are
the shuffling of tiny feet
on wood and tile
the sharp bark
when cats invade the yard
the soft cuddles
left am I with
a quiet house
a clean house
an empty house
a heart too sore to mend
I can’t regret
the hours, the years
spent (I am)
they got me here
where (?)
the weight of…things
I am shedding
and age is arbitrary
I can feel
knots in my neck
untangle
and the thrumming
in my temple
abate
breathing deep into a long
emphatic
oooooooooihhhhhmmmmm
breathing deep into
a beginning
again
Here I lay, half my heart
in slumber; it’s soft spark at year end
having traversed the rivers deep
and the bridges old
to fields of soft clover and long grass
where running wild
her eyes brightly shine
as a child
age as a number was
foreign
there were just those
who were
older
there were no
expectations
to grow old
to outlive
everyone
to lose
joy
to want a
do-over