Life’s Relics

LIFE’S RELICS

Do you ever wonder

When looking at a relic

Why it sits rusting in a field?

What happened on that last journey?

Did it sputter and die

Leaving a family stranded

Or after a richness of adventures

Was it worn beyond repair

Left abandoned on its own

 

What stories does it wear

I have to wonder

Did it carry young lovers

To their senior prom

Or a salesman from town to town

Did it travel America

Its radio giving rhythm

As the miles rolled by

 

Who saw it new

On the showroom floor

And drove it proudly home

Did it safely carry

From the hospital

The couple’s newborn child

And did that child grow up

To sit behind the wheel

With a corsage on the seat

As he picked up his prom date

As his dad did his mom

Years before

 

Those memories are embedded

In layers of paint rusting to perfection

Its owners now are field mice nesting

Making memories of their own

 

So, as I stare down at my hands

At the relic I’ve become

I have to wonder and ponder

About my own stories

What questions does someone

who gazes at me

Silent in my wheelchair

Ask of themselves

Are they curious

As to the life I’ve lived

I wonder