Winter Solstice

Baby shoes on the sidewalk They're playing hopscotch in the dents we left in the concrete Never wore those moccasins you got me for my birthday Wasted all the gift card money on toys and games And other things that break Even then I sensed an emptiness in winter When the creek froze in December I could feel myself getting older Maybe it was the soft decay Brittle branches finally breaking That showed me time outside my understanding It's not like Michigan in Spring When they find the kids who went out wandering and didn't make it home Still I feel a little death in the shorter days When dinner's on the table getting cold And no one cares to pick up the plates Even now I see the dollhouse Perfect still in all it's little ways Though it exists I cannot place it And I witnessed it's decay Saw the ceiling when it caved in When I go back I have to dig it up from ruin Little boots turning up when snow washes away Got powertools in the truck for the elusive someday We can sweep the streets, clean it up But everything that's coming up was supposed to have gone away