a red door

By John Iamb; a red door

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I couldnt put down what I should have put down

A memory of the insane moment when I was asleep at the back of a truck
Or of the school trip across the road where daffodils lived in secret
And where houses are now

I could have put myself up sometimes too

For when I turned down the married red-head waitress
who with pool cue in hand
Looked up and said I dont mind

Or when I let Ireland Road in Mishawaka have the Buick through stop signs at one-forty
The corn its only witness and a friend in a mustang before me
Before his father passed
Though I dont think I let him down

I could have glimpsed once

in the second of life where you have everything
And I mean everything
The treasure of existence
And if I could have captured that
Looking around at the buildings and the night that I owned
And the woman with my child coming
I could have been
Would have been
King

When I was a child and set a bird free one day

I should have been told by someone
Other than the sky that was witness then to my innocence
That Id been a part of all of this

That I had, without knowing it

Held something beautiful
And like a word of memory in the future
Did the right thing
And set it free

I have a secret dream

I can only reach for like anyone now
With the woman gone and the child unborn
And the bird long since flown
With Corn ripening and houses still pushing daffodils down
I have a one-coat red door Im going to paint again when I make it

Its the little thing that stupidly reminds me

In a world where I have nothing
And I mean nothing
That someday I will