25th Anniversary by Eric Terry

A half and two decades
And who could predict?
I'm nearly where you were
When this story first began

Now they tell me I'm the both of you
(My pupils draw arcs in my head)
But the truth is
That's the finest compliment.

I hope I'm like Dad,
Standards set on high,
Demanding the most myself can manage,
But less of those around.

Or maybe I mirror Mom,
A hard worker,
Quick-minded, slow-tempered,
Firm, but able to laugh

My childhood was painless:
I never saw a fight
Where words were weapons
In the lingual lunges of so many duels
That never end well.

And scolded tears were forgotten,
Flushed skin returned.
Their lessons, though, I learned forever:
I hold them in heart and head.

So many good memories
Locked in my chest
Like warm sand
Cradled between the toes

Hearing waves breathe
Against the shore,
A violet sunset
Lighting our Sunday picnic

Or tilting our heads back
For the flare of Friday rockets,
Exploding colorfully
Above a bay of swaying masts and sails

We thought it would go on,
But life twisted suddenly,
Sending us into the bustle
To fend for a new existence.

Of course, they lamented our fall:
Our happily ever after, lost.
But of what value was such a finale
Without the chapters before?

So it became an adventure!
Battling circumstance,
Growing stronger, closer.
We couldn't lose.

And who could foresee us now,
Watching the bloom of greens and pinks,
Dusting yellowed windowsills
Of a Southern spring's playful confetti?

Roads tangled among trees and brooks,
Leaves parching in crimson with every autumn.
Something foreign is now home.
How far away we are!

Far, and yet close.
So, though houses come and go,
Our home is constant.

-Eric J.K. Terry
4 April 2005