Broken Dreams Poem by naomi smith

Broken Dreams

One afternoon in Spring a neighbor paused
While mowing his lawn to smoke
As I was checking the new growth
In my yard. He came over to chat
Telling me how the last ride on his Harley
Cost him 17 operations
And metal plates throughout his body.
A long hair with the beard of a gnome,
He said he'd let me in on a secret.
'Here I'll show ya. See this stuff? '
He pulled out his lighter, bent down
and ignited several dandelion fluffs.

It's important to get every strand,
He said,
or the wind'll catch 'em
And they'll float away
And create weeds all over
The place.

“Weeds? ” I said remembering
the last time I blew on a dandelion.
And watched the fluff float about
Like some aimless seagull
Past sight,
Into stars
into memories
of birthday candles…..

'Ya see these things are really seeds.'
To this I replied,
'Some people think of them as dreams.'
He ignored that remark and pulled out another
Cigarette.
'Just be careful not to set your lawn on fire.'

Now I burn the fluff using a dinner candle
Remembering long ago dinners when we had
Dreams of saving our blacklisted father from a
terrible madness; In time we were sure he would
forget about writing a blueprint for a new civilization
and forget about wiping out the old one with all it’s
weaknesses and flaws. An invincible civilization!
My mother had been told by doctor after doctor in town
To have him committed, all of them thumbs down.
Instead we believed that in time he would awake
From whatever spell had been put on him.

Sometimes, if I find a grand dandelion fluff,
Rather than burn it, I take it to the fence and let
the seeds go free, let them float aimlessly up
into the sky each like some tiny cloud and
I cannot help but remember how my father
refused to mow the lawn.