This was a place of happy memories;
some sad ones, also, I recall.
It was a detached frame colonial
and, as such, doomed to fall.                                                            ­                                

Our old neighborhood was changing,
multi-families all the rage.
The zoning laws permitted it,
it was time to turn the page.

A new brick building has replaced
the home my parents made.
They've carted off the remnants
Not a single scrap remains.

The new building doesn't interest me,
It's the old walls I recall.
I felt as if my own chest caved in
when they felt the wrecking ball.

My husband never liked it- he'd ***** moan and complain,
but it was my place of solitude, being Queen of my domain.
I spent happy hours there, just puttering  in my shed
I had a stash of bourbon there and some intriguing reds.

How the fire started we have never ascertained.
I still suspect my husband, but he'll never take the blame
He says it was a lightening strike that burned it to the ground
but can't explain the empty can of kerosene I found.

Though of suspicious origin, our insurance man came through
accepting tales of lightening strikes out of a sky clear blue.
I'll built my next she shed with brick and you can rest assured
that, no matter what the cost, it's gonna be insured.

I knew it without knowing; I cannot tell you why.
I sensed that this would be the day that we would say goodbye.
The doctor in in lab coat had played this scene before.
He used the term “metastasis “as he told me the score.
I asked if I could be with you as you faced the end
He said “of course, it’s better if the pet is with their friend.
He promised me there’d be no pain; just a pinch and then
My Labrador would drift to sleep and to his final end.
I kept a brave face for Boots sake; He shouldn’t see me cry.
The hardest part of having a pet is the day we say goodbye.

In wind and flame a forest dies,
But from the ashes she shall rise.
From pine cones opened by the heat
The trees ****** victory from defeat.
Among the embers fading glow
Seeds take root and soon will grow.
Surely conifers shall rise
and, evergreen,reach for the sky.
Like the Phoenix bird of legend
They rise anew to strive for heaven

If, tomorrow,You ask for me
and find that I have gone.
If some unwelcome guest arrived
and joined their hand to mine.
Think of me as if I'm asleep
and comfortably at home.
Please, do not grieve excessively
that you've been left alone.
Instead remember you are loved
beyond this veil of tears.
above all else remember me
and I am ever near.

The past may be a beautiful place, but, correct me, if I’m wrong-
all those who try to live there cannot remain for very long.

Your long and lovely auburn hair as you turned to give a kiss;
Yes, it only is in memory, but it still can warm a night like this.

I no longer am that strong young man who held you for that kiss.
In truth we parted years ago. My fault, I must confess.

I think about you often, though, and how you brought this heart delight
As fallen leaves recess in pools of light

in the lonely hours of the night

There once was a man from Gibraltar
who was deathly afraid of the altar
Then a girl, sweet and round,
by Cupid was found.

Now she leads him around with a halter.