It’s the small
Things that amuse
Me a sleepy
Kitten purring or
The hysterical lapping
Tongue of an
Anxious wiggling puppy
Or snow drops
Popping through late
April snow and
Even mid-July cloudbursts
That give rise
To steamy streets
But most of
All it’s your
Just-about-to-sleep nighttime riddles
That tickle me
And one day
Long ago I
Left him there
Right where I
Found him worse
For the wear
And filled with
Adventures and conquest
And battles and
Picnics but I
Never ever forgot
My first friend
That homely ruddy
One eyed bear
I tend to
Think about the
Inconsequential silly things
Paper bags and
Rubber bands and
Oh yes life
And love nothing
Important really until
You need them
But until you
Do all you
Ever see is
Them every where
Why is that
What is left
After the anger
Disappears probably the
Same things left
Behind by the
Tide a Galaxy
Of sparkling stones
Begging you to
Take notice now
Because tomorrow they
Will all disappear
Beneath something else
Today during these
Short days of
Winter I remember
Those long shadowed
Days of summer
Particularly that one
Late summer evening
When you rested
Your head in
My lap while
I smoked a
Cigar and we
Simply looked at
Each other as
Though we were
Seeing the other
For the first
Time neither of
Us knowing then
That like summer
Winter would soon
Befall even us
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 