I couldn’t see my sister.

She is the one who stands in rain.

There are scars and there’s a blister.

No effort to hide that pain.

I tried and tried and failed.

All the stories… Said, “please no more.”

Yes I ran away, I bailed.

Changed the locks upon that door.

Once upon a time in the mid to late 1960’s in a distant land we sometimes said prayer before we ate in schools.

The following is the last time I remember any teacher asking any student to create a prayer for the class.

“Good bread, good meat, good God let’s eat.”

We all laughed 😅

She Said that she loved me. Said I made her smile.

She Said a lot of things. Spoke no truths now, for awhile.

I don’t know what happened. It happened before me.

Now I just smile and wave. From the safety of this tree.

I am here with my baby and oh my how she has grown.

We had to leave ‘She Said‘ behind, She Said is on her own.

She is talking with the doctors. They looking for the ways.

To get She Said to tell the truth. She believes in what she says.

It wasn’t what was wanted.

It wasn’t what was planned.

There’s no way to find a winner.

When you have a losing hand.

She sent me a letter. Hadn’t heard from her in awhile.

She isn’t any better. Though she said I made her smile.

She said I was offensive. All I really Said to her was no.

She sounded so defensive. Then she said she had to go.

There is no more to the story except I think this was goodbye.

In all the pain and all the glory, still no tears were in my eye.

Heard them in the dark… Moving.

They had so much to say.

Singing like a lark, grooving.

Happy with nothing but today.

So happy in the warm. Choosing.

Avoiding all work and no play.

Behind the eight ball. Losing.

Everything though nothing but today.

Watched them in my mind. Soothing.

There they fade out, go away.

The lights cut through the darkness.

The stars shone in the sky.

I was driving at horizon.

At the edge of me oh my!

I was looking for the signpost.

That said, ‘There might be more.’

I missed it at the crack of dawn.

I was dreaming of the shore.

I was wading in the shallows.

In water salt and cool.

The smell of baking filled the air.

Where they taught the ‘golden rule.’

What started out as rumors.

Whispers, spit and little more.

There was whiskey in the water.

And those rumors were of war.

There are fears and there are sorrows.

Some resentments and that stain.

There was nothing to be said or done.

That loose tongues could not explain.

What started out as reason.

Explanations keeping score…

Another log upon the fire.

Like those rumors of a war.

When every hour is spoke for…

Except the one that I’m in now.

And haven’t a clue about what to do.

Or where or who or how.

So I’m sitting in the sunshine.

And think mainly about the past.

There is nothing much to change there.

We just knew it couldn’t last.

A rich man drives a taxi.

A poor man drives a Ford.

But my old man

Goes down the street

With four wheels on a board.

MARGARET MANTIN

Les said, “Mind your own business.”

Just before he hung up the phone.

We didn’t talk much after that.

I miss my old friend.

I am currently in the business of being a single father and raising a daughter who is entering the beginning stages of going through puberty. There is much to mind here.

I am treading lightly with an ear towards listening. I have had wise counsel and numerous warnings and am swimming towards the deep end now…

Prayers are always appreciated 🙏

Dennis Mantin