Jeff Burt’s most recent poem to appear here was Backyard Improvements (October 2012).
Socks
By Jeff Burt
Some do not wonder where the lost sock’s gone.
Some people love like that, choose
To forget the partner
That left with either myth or hate.
Some parents love like that, let
The child go when they are still at home
As if a fixture that goes unnoticed,
And do not run to hug them
When they appear down the road.
To have a prodigal one must look,
One must search the catacombs
Where lost ones hide, separated
By time and turmoil, learn to lament
When things become divided and lost
And rejoice when they return,
Clutch a found sock, marry it to its other.
It’s amazing how the simple things in life can still make us happy.