Now the silence replaces the
sounds of my children
Where chatter, laughter and gossip
played off familiar walls,
the paint rests.
Before came sleepless nights,
anticipation, planning and panic.
Days now marked off
on the calendar pass
like the growth
of a fingernail
Then comes a change.
It is reunion time.
Airport runs, cars in the driveway,
baggage and quick gossip.
A beer grabbed,
and more family news
Long planned meals start at once.
Raves about the ordinary fare
familiar becomes great
The halls a crescendo
old friends, telephone calls
look who is here, you remember
Dave from my forth grade class?
What are you going to wear tonight?
Did you have a good time?
Who did you see?
High tide of the visit
And then
be sure to pack the left over beer.
What time does your plane leave?
Drive carefully
with the holiday traffic.
They leave like the tide,
behind are the shells
and seaweed left.
Beer cans, coke bottles,
a forgotten camera and hair clip,
the telephone book open
on the kitchen counter.
The beds newly made,
the garbage and recycle hauled.
Trash cans normally nearly empty
now overflowing.
The retreating tide
has left it high water mark.
There is again the silence
on those memory less walls