I roamed your barnyard
And climbed your
Apple trees
When I was a child
You stood bigger than life
Always with a fresh coat
Of white paint trimmed in green
You were my shelter
When the long day was done
And tractors were allowed
To rest at last
In moonlight's glow
Our 'Family' farm
Stood huge in my child's eyes
In actuality you were
Like so many small time
Operations tended
For generations
By the same blood
That plowed your soil
And planted your crops
Beside shaded lane you stood
Where upon graveled path
Bare feet became calloused
To the sharpness of its stone
Only was felt the warmth
Of your assurance
Of yet many days to come
Today...
It is the inner child
That remembers you and weeps
At the memory
Of when I saw you last
Too weary you were
To continue the fight
No longer
Reflected the rays of sun
Upon dirt streaked windows
That even now
Seldom feels the rain
But once ...
The windows of your soul
Caught the first glimpses
Of dawn and welcomed
A little girl to a new day
Today ...
You stand upon graveled lane
And search to remember
The swing that once hung
Just outside your door
Yesterday ...
You would not have had
To search to remember
Today ...
The sound of falling plaster
Is all that is heard
Yesterday ...
The very same plaster
soaked in the memories
That brought you your smiles
Dear Heart
Are you as the tree
In the forest
Where the sound
Of your falling can
Only be heard by those who
Truly care to listen
Today ...
You are but a memory
of dinner dishes
Being washed and dried
Beside a sink
That went without
Running water for years
As I grew you grew also
Making it no longer necessary
to make a quick call
To an outside building
In the middle of the night
And yet no matter where
We had succeeded or failed
You were always home
A young child's fears seemed
Somehow easier to bare
Within the safety of your walls
The night was my own
With no worries until tomorrow
Often lulled to sleep
By the crickets
That sang their song upon the
Stillness of the night
Your today stands as does
The today's of so many
Childhood's homes
Left for awhile
As only a shell upon
A landscape of broken dreams
Where dieing is almost merciful
Abandoned because yet another
Small family farmer
Could no longer
Fight the elements and compete
With the rising costs
To continue the journey
Uncertainties now given way
To the reality that the battle
Has at last been lost
Your tomorrow ...
Oh my friend it pains my heart
To tell you that there
Will be no tomorrow
You will become a piece of land
That when looked upon
Has no landmark and no pride
Of the decades that one family
Called you home
Sadly with you
Goes the graveled lane
The presence of
Where you once stood
Fades into another
Small family farmer's nightmare
And the dreams
They so unwillingly leave behind
Generations of family
All of one blood
Somehow still lives within
The whispers of your memory
And now
Goodbye is the only choice
Rest in peace home of my childhood
Oh and the answer to the question
Of a tree falling in the forest
With no one to hear its cries
As you yourself cried to live on