JUST PASSING THROUGH

Tonight I sit inside a noodle restaurant

it used to be a Mexican burrito place and

before that, in the 90’s it was a Wendy’s.

It gives me the same feeling I have when

I sit in my living room in my big brown chair

a place I’ve lived for about a dozen years.

Others lived there before, sat in the same spot

watching TV, arguing about paying the bills,

raising kids, putting up Christmas trees,

painting the walls their favorite colors,

rolling out carpet to make it warm and cozy.

In another twenty years, someone else will

call this place their home and they’ll paint

the walls their favorite color and buy a new rug.

They’ll be out front watering the hydrangeas

that I planted along the driveway and raking

up all the leaves the way we used to each fall.

One day, when I’m gone, the postman will deliver

a piece of mail with my name on it, somebody will

glance at it, read my name, toss it in the trash

and say, “must be the guy who lived here before”.