The Future Here Poem by Jesse Ellsbury

This is where it started –
the future here,
the roots, it’s clear
have grown too long
and reached past water,
my sons and daughters
unborn and unmourned.

I age on a time clock,
every moment’s paid
with a wrinkle,
every second fades
and I’m again single,
the ones I loved
will have left me for dust
and my eyes, so wet with rust,
she said she would stay,
I thought I could trust her
she’ll be gone…

my parents, too, will have passed on,
their graves obscured by flowers,
memories obscured by hours –
now I’ll have to bring them to my wife
and go back to my staring contest
with death
and there I’ll wait,
knowing I’m next.