Quiet. So quiet.
Ducks impatiently quack for handouts at the lower pond.
A slow late-summer breeze begrudgingly pushes along curled-up leaves
That had leapt to a premature demise from the tall, stately maples surrounding the plot.
Cool granite markers mutely announce the occupants therein, since they themselves
Seem loathe to make their presence known.
Alone. So alone.
The whole family there and gone.
Great grandparents...sure. After all, they have been there since long before my own birth,
Almost as proof of pedigree, a reminder of continuity...assuring, in an odd way.
Grandparents and great aunts...sure. And all at the ends of long and fruitful lives, leaving
Me with all the appropriate warm, soft-focus memories. I thank them for that,
And so much more.
Parents....and that, I suppose, has to be as well. It seems, though, that a number of my
Friends still have their folks in various states of repair, and that mine have been absent an
Inordinate number of years, with grandchildren entering the world never snuggled or spoiled,
Never living through "Wow! Is that cocoa an' warm cookies for me , Gramma?"
Bursting into the kitchen, frosty-cheeked and wet-wool-wrapped, from sledding at the infamous Park Circle hill, with grinning, glowing Grandpa in tow, ready with tall tales of climbing into the clouds and using the most daunting trails on the planet, breaking the sound barrier on the way down...
And my brother.
Gone since the Bicentennial year, shattering my parents' hearts.
Mom joined him in a scant eight months, and my Dad, several years later.
Brother left behind a wife and infant son to fend for themselves.
Unjust. So unjust.
Grainy black-and-white remembrances through time.
A smallish, warm hand slides into my palm, redolent of freshly-spaded soil,
Ending my wade in the pools of yesteryear.
A little girl's voice, spilling over with the promise of yet unnumbered tomorrows
And still unencumbered by the gravitas of this place and this time happily announces
"Mommy and me are all done planting the impatiens, Dad - Whatcha thinkin' about?"
May the circle be unbroken.
"Say goodbye for now, honey."
Quiet. So quiet.

GDL

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