I can feel you standing there / But I don't see you anywhere

THE BAND COVERS

Side 1, Track 6

I can feel you standing there

But I don't see you anywhere

Looking back, which turns out is easier

than looking ahead, the two of us are

waving from the long front porch,

watching each of you leave—proms,

college, marriage, Christmas, babies,

turning in the circle, passing behind

maple and pine trees, as one then

another then another disappears down

the long shale drive, taillights fading

around the bend as we turn and step back

into the well worn home, your impressions

still in sofa cushions, faces going up the stairs

disembodied voices, music, drifting down

into the kitchen, crumbs and wine bottle

rings on the butcher block counter, phone

hanging the wall, long white cord twisted

into itself, nine empty chairs around the pine

table, and out the bay window a pair

of cardinals at the feeder, red-tailed hawk

perched on top of the swingset, green

swings dangling in an unseen breeze.

–SL, Port Royal, SC, Feb. 2022