The Young Things

We’re all on the run
from something,
some variation on
a theme of law.
We spend huge wads
of our lives hiding out,
dyeing our hair,
changing our names.
But there’s always
a chink in our alias
where the loneliness bores
deeper than silence.
Its the young things that
trigger older tears –
boys playing football in the street,
that Judy Collins’ song,
raking leaves into piles
with the wind in the trees.
We don’t want to go back.
We want to go home.
 
 

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8 Comments

  1. Sue on October 28, 2013 at 12:37 pm

    Yes. And ancient tears are triggered by words like these that make clear our longing. Merci.

  2. Mike Graves on October 28, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    beautiful, thought about your grandmom yesterday,, God bless yall

  3. Monica Sharman (@monicasharman) on October 28, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    “Its the young things that
    trigger older tears -”

    I regularly go through exactly that. Something deep and bruising happens when I hear a song from the late 1970s or early 1980s. I’ve wondered why those songs are so powerful in me. And I think part of the answer is right there in your last two lines.

  4. sethhaines on October 28, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Some variation on the theme of law?

    Yeah… that’s right.

  5. Gwen Acres on October 28, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    ….a sighting, a scent, a song and the longing returns.

  6. SusanInWords on October 28, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    “We don’t want to go back. We want to go home.” No kidding. Ugh, ow, praise God.

  7. Annie B on October 28, 2013 at 9:50 pm

    You catch things well.

  8. Diana Trautwein on October 29, 2013 at 4:22 am

    well, crap. last line hits it. hard.

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