The Gift I Got Poem by r james sterzinger

i was born in a small town
hopefully unless i am truely damned
i won't die there
won't be buried there
won't have to go back
a lot of us that lived in one
feel that, but then again...

i can skin a rabbit and cook it
same with a deer, but don't want to now.
i can fall asleep in the leaves
walk miles and miles and never get bored
save for my own thoughts that go rolling around

i can hear hymns of bird and cry
pass by open fields and know
that the smell you smell when you roll by
is the smell of money

i can drive a tractor
i can pick up any rock
call it a thing of beauty
i can wade a creek
i can appreciate a gun
as well as watching my prey get away

but back in my small town
the pretty girls were what got away
they went to bad boys
who didn't pray rosaries
or went to church on sunday

ahh, but now
when a pretty girl smiles
at me, though i am old
i can take it like the gift
it is. melt in it
make a home of it.
in a small town
they all knew you
and the smiles were rare

so when you smile at me
i take it that god is generous
good and giving
with love as smooth as a swallows flight