You live in a very small house
On a street
That’s getting busier
You moved in when the baby was coming
And you’ve been here ever since
And now the baby’s got a baby coming
You need a new roof
And new paint on the walls
And a carpet for the living room
You decided not to put the pool in this year
Because it’s supposed to rain all summer anyway
And that other stuff is more important
Parades go by in front of your house
And at night, you can sit on the porch
And wonder about the neighbors
When it’s winter, the snow comes right up
To the front door
Like a stray looking for food
When it’s spring, you get flowers you never planted
And the ones you did plant
Never come up
You face disappointment, great and small
Years later, you remember trivial instances
With a golden frame
You get insomnia some nights
And look out the window at the broken pavement
Thinking maybe you should have tried living in the city
What if you feel like pizza at 3am?
What if you need a little noise to sleep?
What if you made a mistake?
You think about people in bigger houses
And wonder if that would make you any happier
I mean, you’re pretty happy right now, aren’t you?
You’re not sick
Nobody you know is sick
The house is yours—paid in full
The car works
The kids aren’t on drugs
The guy’s coming to see about the roof on Thursday
Meanwhile on the street
Patches of nothing
Become overnight retail
They’re putting in a Domino’s a block from you
And another CVS, and the third Walgreen’s in two miles
Plus a yogurt shop and a consignment store
You didn’t go to the city
So the city’s coming to you
Maybe it’s time for a move
But you like the sounds of the high school nearby
Every fall, you curse the increased traffic
Secretly, you like seeing the parents dropping off their
kids
You like walking the dog
Down the same blocks
To the same fire hydrants
You like knowing what you’ll see when you wake up
And when you go to bed
And what’s waiting for you after work
You like the way time rolls here
Over and over
Hitting the same bumps, gliding down the same dips
You live in a very small house
On a street
That’s getting busier
And at night, when you can’t sleep
You get to thinking
About all the other houses
And all the other people you know
And don’t know
And never will know
And you think about all the living you’ve done
In this very small house
And you’re sort of amazed at it
That such a small place
Could contain
So much life
A car goes by
And then another
And then nothing
And then nothing but quiet
For a very long
Time
No comments:
Post a Comment