Signature

You see the hearts carved on to the trunk

The "Susie loves Johnny" or "Timmy loves Faye"

You see the "4-ever" and sometimes it's all crossed out.

It was an important tree that held their hearts.

Placing a pen in my hand

I stare at the paper

Was this the part of that tree?

The one of many with many carved hearts?

Or is this the part that the names were crossed out...

The heart that was broken

And the tree that was shredded?

It had to be.

I picked up my pen more than once

I stared at the paper thinking, "just sign"

I laid down the pen each time.

This was where Susie loved Johnny.

I could feel it.

It always sounded effortless

But feels too hard.

It was always coming 

but now that it is here.....

I remembered the cement being fresh

The sign that said "do not walk-wet cement"

I remember his and her names by his mom's front yard

And over the years it is still there

But they are no longer.

We didn't write in cement

We didn't write on a tree

But we signed on those papers

We signed over the hearts

Over the names that we could not see

It meant the world.

I picked up my pen more than once

I stared at the paper thinking, "just sign"

This was where the heart was crossed out

I could feel it.

~~grb  2013~~