Posted on August 21, 2018 at 2:14 pm

I’m walking on hallowed ground.
I’m breathing in ancient air.
I’m hearing a long-lost sound
From the water down there –
It’s a distant beat
Pulsing through the heat of the long ago.
I’m walking on hallowed ground.
I’m stepping on sacred bones.
Another new fossil found
In the silt and the stones,
Just beyond this hill
In the sultry still of the summer.
I am trying to find
Something I left behind in the long ago.
I’m walking on hallowed ground.
I’m holding my daughter’s hand.
I’m taking a look around
Where my Dad used to stand
When he’d watch me play
On some sun-scorched day in the long ago.
I’m following faded trails
From when I was twelve years old.
I’m fi shing out new details
In the stories I’ve told,
Like the hearts I broke,
Like the truth unspoken in summer.
Turn a corner and then
I am right back again in the long ago.
See that kid in the breeze?
I keep telling him “Easy does it.”
That’s the problem with him,
It was never that simple, really, was it?
I’m walking on hallowed ground.
I’m checking out every clue.
I’m seeing my life unwound
And assembled anew.
Then I hear that line:
“Dad, relax, I’m fine,”
And she’s running off.
And she’ll stand here one day
Watching me walk away in the long ago.
You can run, you can learn,
But you’ll always return to the long ago.