Lynn Kincade - Once

I remember
Hot summer days
with tarred sidewalks
sucking at ones feet
The dusty shopkeepers
standing in their quiet stores
The silence allowing their wares
to speak

I remember
Long spring nights
Baseball, basketball, football
Volleyball, tag, badminton
Chasing up and down the street
until the sun drowned in twilight
and mothers called
out supper

I remember
The ice rink
Laying planks in the backyard
flooding the rolled out plastic
Gliding in and out the spotlight
on dark snowy nights
to the old fashioned radio’s
Gershwin tunes

I remember
Quiet evenings
Mom’s sewing machine whirring
making dresses, shirts, and handkerchiefs
Dad’s pencil scratching
a new house, apartment, office block
Drawing blueprint dreams
of someday

I remember
Riding in our old blue Chevy
to the local motel
one unremarkable night
Coming home to an empty house
and Mom playing the piano
song after song to silence
her despair.

Lynn Kincade

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/once-47/