Serenade of a Senior Citizen

                             

                         And after they are gone

                         when the house now empty

                         sits in silence  waiting

                         memories of a long winter recede

                         I see fat men shoveling snow

                         from icy sidewalks

                         commuter trains always on time

                         seats set up for the daily Bridge

                         then a hasty good bye

                         and a dash into the caverns

                         of Wall Street and the City

 

                         Now the sea laps gently at my door

                         the sun as always has come again

                         his smiling face has a local joke

                         I have heard before

                         it is rocking chair time

                         hours creak between the meals

                         echoes of an empty house

                         speak with a strange silence

 

                         I was young once  so the house says

                         my bones are the mortar and the glue

                         fleshed out by your hours

                         your lives nurtured my soul

                         which was once just the sinew

                         of naked timber

 

                         The house settles with a deep sigh

                         together we show our cracks

                         waters now quiet rest by the shore

                         we all have our memories

 

 

                                                           Jack Mashman

                                                           1991