Day: September 4, 2024

~ Can you ever go home again? This here’s a lil’truth, lil’fiction. ~
 

Last night I dreamed
I was wandering next to whitewater
in a stand of mountain birch

the white tree with paper-like bark

my father’s favorite tree

reminds him of Canada
his beloved country of birth

I vividly remember my dad
and his love of the birch
and his longing for Canada

a fondness he instilled in me
sharing his beautiful north country
via semiannual fishing adventures
to the small island log cabin
he still co-owned with a Canuk buddy

many memories still live and breath
in my heart

visions of younger days

one now calling me forward
down into the birch valley
and across the planes
of a childhood long ago

this morning’s sun
came crisp and bright
enfolding my waking
in warmth
and vivid presence
as the world awoke
fresh and fascinating

I embarked early
after eggs
juice
toast and jelly

the sweet and salty taste
lingering
of a homecoming
too long overdue

my soul is full
my mind is clear
my heart — overflowing
but my sprit is tentative

when dusk settles this evening
and early shadows fall soft
I will round Miller’s Corner
as it comes into view

worn
withered
but warm with recall

Original DDE™ surrealistic art entitled “Echoes of Laughter”
by: rob kistner © 9/4/24

my wooden framed
childhood home

abandoned now to ghosts

specters of a youth
spent surrounded by love
by laughter
by learning
and by loss

one of the ghosts
in that old house
is my mother

she passed within its walls
on a summer day
not unlike today
as I sat sobbing
in my room
down the hall

my father kept me from her room

he feared the sickness that took her
might take me

so I never really
got to say goodbye to her

nor goodbye to the laughter
that died that day

nor goodbye to the smile
on my father’s face
for it was never seen again

it disappeared
as did my father
into deep debilitating depression

shortly after mother passed
I was moved away
to live with my aunt
in Oregon

today I will return
to say a long delayed goodbye
to my mother

and to lay my father to rest
next to her
in the cemetery
behind the old church
where once they wed

quietly
I climbed the 2 steps
and entered the old church
empty at the moment

I sat down in a back pew
bowed my head
as if in prayer
and in a gentle hush
whispered

“I’ve come back — I’m here”

Original DDE™ surrealistic art entitled “Sacred Serenity”
by: rob kistner © 9/4/24

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rob kistner © 2024

More poetry at: dVerse