Years Later


When I went back to visit,
everything seemed smaller
except the trees. Plastic grocery bags
ghosted in the wind between the shrunken
downtown buildings. The high school had sunk
into the ground, creating a large
depression. The old house barely came
to my knees. A dog skeleton lay in the driveway.
Faded photographs had been pasted behind
each window. They moved their lips,
but they were not looking at me. Everywhere
the lawns were fading to pink as they disappeared
under the encroaching black branches.


©2004 F.J. Bergmann

"Years Later" appeared in The Binnacle—Ultra Short box 2005.

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