Empty cans dotted his mind
as his toes checked the dirt below
He could hear them rattle;
once full, now something to throw
There is no warranty,
a time passed is too late for change
It’s not worth a tin roof,
what you learned only seems strange
But I can’t throw them away,
it’s not so easy when you lose a friend
I’m willing to go further;
a path of twenty years can never end
I wish I had a cause;
like the one we had before you left
Once opened it is no more,
the realization an unwelcome guest
I stared at the wood;
once a tree, now the ghost of a town
It was an oil field,
promise, now a picture I took down
Every shiny object conspires,
how sad it must feel to an old man
But new is not forgiveness;
only the path away from an empty can