I actually did write this yesterday. I just didn't get around to posting it then, and I have forgiven myself for that. This is for the Pedersen family, with love. Especially Bent, Sam, Becky and Alex.
Changing of the Guard
Rummaging through the past
in hushed chaos.
Children.
Children’s children.
Childrens’s children’s children.
Pulling stories out of drawers
closets, cupboards, corners.
Photographs by the hundreds.
Plates by the dozens
hanging on the walls.
Knicks knacks,
fridge magnets,
cross stitch wall hangings.
Christmas paper,
books, glassware
cutlery, ashtrays,
placemats, hats,
knitting needles.
Dust of years flies
from boxes revealing
the mystery of their contents.
The place empties
of stuff and fills
with the love of those
who will carry on
in the tender watch of
a new matriarch.
VHS tapes, a travel alarm clock.
“I don’t know how to tell time,”
the youngest boy says.