Postcards from Iowa, 1909

Their sisters, cousins, aunts and others ... all dead. What lives are words ...

Postcards from Iowa, 1909

Their post marks stamp a year, a place,
another time before the dawn
of horseless carriages, before
the wars that tore at them were lost
or won. They speak of school, of birth-
day presents, Christmas and the Yule.
Their sisters, cousins, aunts and others
impressed upon these leaves ...
... all dead. What lives are words
and promises ink-penned between these lines
once wrote, once read. Now read again.
The postmarks fade; the ink is smudged
from mail that was sent back then.

© Kåre Enga (28.april.2006) [163.82]

13 lines

Original in "Maybe on May day?"