Overcast Afternoon

OVERCAST Afternoon
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shortly after noon
the sun is somewhere overhead
hidden behind a blanket of
beautiful, grey, lonely overcast
this is the kind of day
that slowly mends broken hearts,
the kind of day that negates a belief
in timeclocks or day-planners

if true death could be chosen
I'd surely pick a day such as this,
sitting on a back porch rockin' chair,
smokin' cigarettes and drinkin' coffee
while the sound of grandkids in play
floats through the windows and backdoor

I would nod my head, briefly, as if
to nap or ponder some nagging question
then, with the lightest snap, like the
breaking of a toothpick, my spirit would
break free of this heavy, tired physical
form, and I would break free

floating up over the Georgia pinetrees
over the backroads hiding chicken & grits
buffets, and midnite Juke Joints
and I'd continue upward
into the overcast and beyond

up to where the sky meets a garden of stars,
the welcome matt to heaven