GARDEN GATE

 GARDEN GATE

Closed to me now

Someday it will open

To gather me in

I'll join lost loved ones

With arms spread wide

Inside the garden

Once again we will laugh

And it will be as if

Time had not kept us apart

Long ago I was young

Surrounded by relatives

Too many to count

Most have now gone

Leaving only memories

Of days of old

Running through pastures

Dotted with cattle

Grazing contentedly there

Catching fireflies in summer

Playing hide and seek

Through yards with no fences

Bathing in the old tub

Pulled into the kitchen

One child after another

Sleeping all the way home

Safe in the back seat

No fears in the world.

Poem by Kathy Pratt

Photo by Jennifer Haydon