Had I Stayed Put

Had I stayed married to the same woman for 50-years, had

I religiously mowed the yard every week of every summer

Which has come and gone since then, had I repaired each

Dripping faucet, fixed each screen door squeak, had I cyc-

lically painted every wall indoors and out, had I cleaned

The gutters and spouts, had I patched the cracks in plaster

And concrete, washed the car weekly, had I spent all that

Time sitting in the same place watching football and reality

Programs on cable TV, had I spent my summers drinking

Iced tea on the patio with the same old friends, gone to the

Lake on vacation, spent those bitter winters shoveling ice

And snow off sidewalk and porch, watching my children grow

Up and away from home, had I stayed put and in one place to

Age appropriately as a decent suburban neighbor, had I kept

The same phone number and address season after season, the

Postal worker would not have had to chase me all over the

Planet, day after day, month after month, for years on end in

Every kind of weather imaginable just to deliver junk mail to me.

Chris Hanch  6-23-15