January 2020
Robert K. Johnson
choirofday@cs.com
Bio Note:  Born in New York City (in Elmhurst), I lived in several different places there but have memories only of The Bronx (off Fordham Road). Then my family moved out "on The Island"—to Lynbrook, where we stayed till I graduated from Hofstra (then a College). Several years after my wife, Pat, and I married, we, plus our two children, settled in the Boston area and have remained there (except for my daughter, Kate, who has lived in Manhattan for quite a while). I have been writing poetry since I was twelve (many moons ago).

In Your Lifetime

They die but they never sleep.
When you first awake,
they loom in the morning light;

midday, they interrupt you
busy at your desk or out shopping;
at night,

they hover close to your bed,
the hurt you caused
still showing on their faces.

A Sidewalk "September Song"

Two women, stooped, grey-haired,
plod straight ahead;

while clinging to their slow clothes
are the darkening shadows

of leaves that dangle barely
above their heads.
©2020 Robert K. Johnson
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -FF