The Things They Left Behind Poem by Jim Yerman

Our parents passed away long ago yet we've never felt bereft
Because…when we look around our home…our life…
it's like they never left.

The other day I glanced in the mirror and in there who did I see?
For a moment…just a moment…my dad looking out at me.

I stopped to take a closer look…and much to my surprise
In the mirror…staring back at me…were those my mother's eyes?

Deborah has had similar experiences…I suppose she has no choice…
Sometimes when she's speaking…she hears her mother's voice.

I sometimes laugh just like my mom…Deborah, like her dad, is kind.
It seems our house…our lives…
are filled with many things our parents left behind.

A picture of Deborah's parents looking happy…alive…serene
A pen and ink drawing my Dad completed when he was just a teen.

A hat worn by Deborah's dad…my mom's Hummels on a stand
Deborah has a cookbook…all the recipes written by her mom's hand.

But not everything they left behind has the ability to enthrall….
Like my intolerance for lactose…and my high cholesterol.

And I imagine their genes had something to do with my vision…or lack thereof…
But in retrospect the most important thing our parents left us…
was their legacy of love…

It can be felt in the walls, the floors, the ceilings…on the ground and in the air…
The love we felt when they were here…is floating everywhere…


So the next time we see or hear them…
It will remind us how we're intertwined…
And we'll take a moment to thank them…
for all the things they left behind.