‘Hey’
Your husky voice caught me by surprise
Not that I didn’t know it, or the deep laugh that followed,
But because of the unexpected jab and then praise
For my efforts to dig through four decades of Mum and King Billy’s lilies.
We were all drenched by mid-day
You and the saws-all against railroad tie
The contest shook the living daylights out of you
Still, you walked away victorious and said
You thought you would tackle the shingles next.
I would swear on the bible in the piano bench
That it was only last week
Now it gets dark before supper
And ice forms as crystal against old glass
Winter will not be long in coming again
I listened for you today
In the flash of rainbow light against a white cloud
I couldn’t hear a thing
I thought I knew your voice in every season,
yet I miscounted, you might say –
‘No. It was only two.’
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