More Memories

The Couch

It sits at the end of his driveway,
waiting to be picked up by garbage collectors.
I notice a large gash down the center of it
as I pull in to drop my daughter off.
That gap I don't remember.

I find myself staring at this old piece of furniture
...our first couch.
Many memories are stored in its
worn and tattered fabric.
Many stages of my children's growth
have left their mark upon it.
Catsup,
koolaid stains
and splatters of unwanted medicine
that dribbled down faces
with clenched lips and teeth,
cling like tiny desperate fingers
to the upholstery.

Laughter and long conversations
with family and friends
still bounce from the springs in its center,
just like my children did.
I wonder if the cracks between it
still cling to lost objects
and hushed secrets of a lifetime
that seems so long ago.

This piece of furniture
that has served its time,
reminds me of how the years
have passed like flickers of light
from a video screen...
How my world,
their world has changed
as things do...
from one image to the next
without so much as a pause.

Oh...I know..
I know...
life breathes in
and life blows out...
nothing is constant...
but I can't help but
feel a lump in my throat
as I drive away,
remembering
just how nice it was sometimes...
just how nice it was.

Dale-Lyn Sept 2009