on
A LIFE
By Geoffery P. Jones
Exiled from an anxious womb…
Gentlemen start your engines…
The race has begun… Another face
Among billions… In an unforgiving
Universe that couldn’t care less
About your personal voyage…
And you learn to walk… And you
Learn to talk… And you skin your
Knee on the way to Kindergarten
While holding Mother’s hand…
And then she let’s go…
Better slow down…
A nun raps you on the knuckles
With a ruler as you drift off in
Sunday School… Your eyes shift
From the blackboard to a girl
At a wooden desk sitting across the
Room… She has secrets and tricks
You can’t quite unscramble… She
Has answers to questions you
Haven’t yet asked… But there is time
For that later… She sees you staring
And you look the other way… And
The game of cat and mouse begins…
Strange things occur at ten in the
Morning… It’s early still, but the
Womb is more than a decade gone
Since your jail break… There is
Fear and confusion over matters
Large and small… As ball caps and
Model trains are traded for aftershave
And wet dreams… Things happen
Quickly… Fast cars… Breath mints…
And deep kisses in hidden corners
Of moist rooms with little light…
And pretty soon it’s afternoon… And
You can’t believe you got here…
Reason swirls and you’re in heat…
And you’re on a couch in a home
Somewhere on Elm Street… And you
Don’t know how you arrived there…
But you don’t really care… Because
Somehow you survived your parents
Best intentions… Where adolescence
Was reproached… And sex was
Deemed a capital offense… You’re
Drunk on hormones… But nothing
Much happens… And you lose your
Spot on the couch as another night
Ends in disappointment… And you
Hope one day… To earn your way…
Back to that couch on Elm Street…
And the next thing you know you’re
On your own… You don’t live at home
Anymore…
There’s a near miss along the way…
But things often work out for the best…
And then you find her… The one…
There’s no time for second guessing…
You better hurry before she discovers
Your flaws… Then she gives you that
Arresting look and you know that she
Has you dead to rights… There is no
Hope of escape… But you’re not
Running… You want to be caught…
And soon your world expands… And
The joy is beyond description… As
You see life through the lives you have
Co-authored together… And of course
There are mortgages and major
Heartbreaks that startle… Rude
Awakenings… High drama… But no
One gets out without scrapes and
Bruises… And the stock quotes and
Box scores will bind your wounds
Over time… You are confident
And strong… But your course will soon
Be corrected… Life doesn’t stand on
Ceremony… It’s unscripted…
It’s getting late… Better get your ass
In gear… And it’s time to give faith
Another chance…
While time speeds up you begin
To slow down… As you welcome your
Children’s children with open arms…
They are your legacy perfected…
And you find a higher purpose…
It’s not quite winter… But Jesus
Christ… It’s already November…
It’s growing colder and darker by
The minute…
And you look at each other differently
Now… And it doesn’t trouble you at all…
As layers and textures are peeled back
To reveal beauty that you often
Overlooked… You see essences rather
Than details in her wrinkles and smiles…
Inferences instead of assertions… And
You look to each other for comfort…
Affirming the value of the life you have
Shared… And you wonder… If time lasts
Forever why don’t we… And then it hits
You… We’re only renters after all…
You sit on a bench near a frozen pond…
In a park holding hands where once you
Sipped wine in April… It’s December…
It’s 11:59 and the calendar and the clock
Scheme against you… Children ice skate…
Pregnant clouds deliver snow as a
Flock of geese surveys the scene from
Above… And the two of you exchange
Thoughts without speaking… Silence
Expresses much… You share a minor laugh
And shrug your shoulders in acceptance…
But not in defeat…
And with hands still clasped together you
Sigh in defiance at the absurdity…
Confounded… Alarmed… And astonished
By the brevity of it all…
Join our email list to stay connected.