Sparrow

Bedroom curtains sway
By a window fan
He brings a faded pillow
To his face
A hint of her perfume
Haunting the room
Hiding in the shadows of this place
Tenement concrete steps
Pretty, young and pale
A cigarette on her lips
Leaning on the rail
He pulled up in his car
Asking her name
A thrill, that her heart could not contain
A life that started hard
Turned soft with age
The disappearing years
Blew by like days
A calendar in the picture show
Tears off page by page
Life unwinds
Today, his little sparrow flew away
Bobbins and pins
Needle and thread
The quilt that she made
For their wedding bed
Chisel and saw
Hammer and plane
The pine box and a cross
Where he carved her name
By the open barn door
He drinks alone
In the elm a lone crow looks away
No more to be done
Losing the sun
In the silence, watching the sky turn gray
A life that started hard
Turned soft with age
The disappearing years
Blew by like days
A calendar in the picture show
Tears off page by page
Life unwinds
Today, his little sparrow flew away
Today, his little sparrow flew away