Sitting at the Table

Sitting at the Table      © 2019  Myron Schreck 

Just another guy inside a Veteran’s Home
Most days he just sits around … all alone
Broken by a stroke … 
The last time that he spoke … about a week ago
Something soft and low … mumbling real slow
 
A child of the depression and a broken home
He ran from California to the open road
And when World War began … He lied about his age … 
And joined the Navy
He was just fifteen … But he’d found a family
 
The Navy taught many skills and many trades
And when he left, he traveled all across the states
His motorcycle rides ….  
Took him far and wide … along so many roads
But now he sits alone … In this old Veterans Home
 
He’s just sitting at the table; his eyes slightly closed
Sitting at the table with his thoughts on the road
He’s just sitting at the table; his eyes slightly closed
Sitting at the table … 
But his mind …is a thousand miles from home. 

Once he owned so many cycles;  can’t recall them all
Now he’s stuck here ... in this wheelchair; 
can’t get up to walk
Trapped inside a body … 
that can never do the things he used to do
Those motorcycle rides …
all through the countryside … are now his past life 
 
Every time he had the urge, he’d up and ride
Once a year to Sturgis … 
and every month three hundred miles
Lewiston to Darby … 
Coeur d'Alene to Clark Fork … oh so many trips
Traveling was his passion …
More than just a passion … He could never quit
 
Now he’s sitting at the table; nowhere else to go
Gazing at the window with his thoughts on the road
Just sitting at the table; his eyes slightly closed
Sitting at the table … 
With his mind … a thousand miles from home. 
 
Memories like falling leaves just drift away
Tears fall … when he can’t recall … 
the words he wants to say
His children sometimes visit …
and tell him funny stories … about the past
They show him photographs … He just smiles and laughs
 
Now he’s sitting at the table; nowhere else to go
Gazing at the window with his thoughts on the road
He’s just sitting at the table.  Nothing left to say
Sitting at the table … 
With his mind … a thousand miles away.