I looked back into me

In the light of the house I’d moved away from.

No fire or hurricane or gas leak

Drove us away

We just faded slowly into a new house.

Sidewalks grow shorter

Bridges and towers crumble

Little glass shards on the naked feet of time

I look at my world like writing on a Lincoln penny

Sailing past my hands to fountains I’ll never know.

I looked back into me

In the light of the house I’d moved away from

The grass and windows had all changed

Like a key and time signature flying into a song unknown

How could it be

I’d lived in this strange house

From ages two to eight?

Blue lead garage, towers of bricks, toppled fences—

Houses can crumble in a hundred ways

Treasures melt in my palms

Gold doorknobs lead to junk rooms.

I think I’ve come back

When I’m just a lost fish struggling upstream

Never to return

To my little child self.

I looked back into me

In the light of a house I’d moved away from—

I didn’t know my reflection

A stranger stared back

Through my eyes.