It stands in the back yard…….
She won’t let me take it down

The wood finally rotting away…….
It’s stood for twenty years or more

The floor partially gone…….
Cats have made a home

It Stands and brings memories…….
It stands as a testament to fatherhood and love

It stands as a reminder of selfless giving…….
Of willingness to risk woodworking failure

All to give him something…….
Something not bought in a store

Something different…….
unattainable by his peers

More than a thing…….
A place

High above the ground…….
In the arms of an old pear tree

Reached from the ground by a hand made ladder…….
My son could climb above the rest

It stands there now…….
This hulk of vine entangled wood

Reminding now of days gone by…….
And days more recent

I stare at it and realize…….
We all must face this wretched thing called time

And so I walk away from it…….
She won’t let me take it down.

Sal Grippaldi …
1991©
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