A Winter Walk Behind Sharon Church

Sunday afternoon late
dog Buddy and I took a walk
behind old Sharon church
past the cemetery down
to the open field where
kids cavort and grownups play
a black steel fence
marks the line between
the living and the dead
its vertical bars stiff and sentinel

I stood a long long time peering across
at the cold gray stones
shrouded in a robe of dusk
my feet rooted in the dark sod
around all else was moving
high clouds skidding across the sky
nine deer gracefully entering from the woods
staring and nicely slipping on
buddy running rollicking in the grass
until he settled at my feet

I stood I say
a long long time pondering
until a line from T.S Eliot found me
Old men should be still and still moving
Buddy said “I agree”and I nodded
he got up and we walked on

I have lived a long, long time
it’s time still to move along

Leighton Ford
December 2018