you once were magnificent,
standing strong and tall,
looking out over,
your world,
with quiet serenity.

i see this now,
in the lines of grey,
that sit upon your visage,
worn to a soft velvet skin,
by the years of
going out and coming...

i see the marks your children left,
when they were taken.
i see the patches
of hurt from when you
were forsaken and
given to others,
for purposes,
not natural to you.

and in your heart....
i see the willingness
to try to begin anew,
to be reshaped, resolved
into something of use...

i see the years of
casual abuse,
of scrapes and distress
your heart being lost
in the multitude
of words spoken,
around you,
but never to you.





                              driftwood....


i see much, in you,
in your fine grain,
the salt of many trips,
in the rough edges,
sand from many seas
and in the knotted places,
the homes of those vagabonds,
you did freight for free....

and there worn away almost
by wave and time...
the face of your former keeper
still smiling....
frozen in place.....
forever lost...
but remembering
you were once magnificent