To The Dear One Who Came With Me To Pelham Parkway

To The Dear One Who Came With Me To Pelham Parkway


On the same bench
 my mom, grandmother
and great-grandmother
sat, 70 years ago.
(My grandfather didn't have time.)
Old, blessed men
and young ones
played chess
on the same stone
inlaid sets.
The stone benches still
sparkled their metal bits
in the sun.
"This is nice," you said.
"Yes," I agreed.

The train screeched
into the el station
as it had for ninety years.

My mind fashioned
images
such welcome ghosts
to beckon
before those who sat now
in their place.

I was a fool
for leaving
for staying

and I hated
missing
what was
and was not
so much the same.

Thank you
for being with me