Mill Town

I've whispered lights to you before
Lights below, where the center
Of a city rests beside a river
So many have left to find work
So many must stay behind
Under strong bridges rides the Ohio
When day comes the sun bursts
Giving you start across a field
As a doe in the air.

Impressed by the length of winter days
Full of marks and notches
A train goes by
For two years heavy snow
Has all but disappeared
The soot builds
Long days waiting for something anything
One by one over and over
Until dark clouds
Over the mill begin to prime our memory
A good snow stands well.

It was here that I longed to take you
Whisper to you about the lights
How they topple over the side of the hill
Touch the water below
How lights define every church and street
Stand before stillness
Count the hour
Listen to the soft wind
Find its way among the pine
As I watch and pray
There is much I cannot say.

If I could reach over
And dip my hand in the river
If I were a tree grown
Strong beside you and could only whisper
As a wind through leaves
Until meeting bring
Color and water and blossom
I would never speak.

These are lights that hover
Over the city and call us where we live
I pray that you may live
I will tell you so
Grow as tall and strong as these trees
Before your decision
The moment your life parts from mine
A doe vanishing as the river breaks in two
The fallen timber and the gray mill
To speak for loss.

^

Biography

I am a 6th grade school teacher in a small town in Ohio. As I write about one poem a month, and in between I consider what I might write next, and wonder if there will be another one, I think what a strange endeavor. I do enjoy it and am pretty convinced I need it. I keen my way towards writing again.