"in trust"

 

Life as Stewardship

in my dream

I look out and see Daddy newly-returned,

he sits in the car we've just labored to fix,

and he sees to it that it works,

that we've done well with our charge to keep it going,

what a powerful metaphor

for how we work to live our lives,

as if those we are care about,

who are gone for good,

return,

and judge us and our actions,

we maintain what we call "the cabin"

a last homely house where city morphs to wild wood, 

Daddy used to say

"my backyard is thousands and thousands of acres!"

and now there's a trust we help manage

that keeps this gateway to "the mountains"

open and affordable,

kept up to high standards

yet full of the personal touch,

I stand at a grave

and pray that I remember,

there I pledge my self to use my life to honor my parents,

to express as well as I can the wonder of their lives,

and of all who have touched me for the good,

if spirits were to return,

I would hope they would judge my stewardship

as jobs well-done

by Henry H. Walker

July 24, ‘24