the first of a string of cold nights
and mild days are a welcome
change
I am not outside at my usual
time so the stillness and quiet
are very refreshing
I can hear the drone of a lawn
being cut probably at the church
and a siren far away
add a loud bird and I think it may
be stereo another lawn being
cut on the other distant side of me
my tea went from sipping hot to
cool enough to gulp if I want to
with less than half a cup left
do you know what is missing
my steno pad as I opted to bring
my laptop outside for the first
time so my Namiki fountain pen
already a relic by age alone is now
a sure sign of my past
thirty-five years ago or so on a
day like today I’d walk from my
Kaserne to a bench along the
Nahe River to sit and fill a
notebook with all the woe is
me of the day and to pray
or cry
no cell phones and no PCs really
just a few word processors at
work using large CP/M disks and
floppies I think
about one sip of cold tea to go
you know the same God who
used to hear my cries then
as I looked out over the river
hears me now
I for one am glad that some
things don’t change and God
is one of those things
my father God has never
forgotten one of my tears as
we sat along the river
