- write4hire
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