Elegy for My Youth
Gone the energy for weeding and planting in the yard all day
Gone the ability to carry 50 pounds of sunflower seed
Gone the taut skin on my arms
Walking without rest, reduced to carrying a stool
Gone is the easing into the saddle and settling onto the horse
Gone too is the horse
Shrunk with age, I can no longer reach the top cabinets
stretch to reach the clothesline
Gone the weekly letters in the mailbox
and the gnarled hand that wrote them
accepted Remington Review Fall 2018
