Shore Road

by Harold Van Lonkhuyzen

Silence, stillness,

yew bushes, Norway spruces,

granite step and empty clothesline:

let me not disturb

the memories interred

of two parents and four children,

a happiness pursued

and perished.

I have wanted to dig in,

to remember, revise,

cooperate with life

in my own liberation.

Today, it seems, I resist.

I’ll visit again, tomorrow.