James Babbs- Three Poems

The Day She Said Goodbye

I saw a tree without leaves

near an empty field

I watched a line of geese

moving across the sky

drove my car for endless miles

but didn’t get anywhere

when night came

I felt the chill in the air and

I shivered

before putting the heat on

when I got home

I sat in the driveway

waiting for the song to end

before turning off the engine and

getting out of the car

I made my way toward the house

walking slowly through the dark

Since the Fall

Saturday night and

I’m driving back

from visiting my Mom

she’s been in the nursing home

for over a year now

ever since the fall

after her time in the hospital

was all used up and

she can’t walk

she can’t use her hands

she just sits in her room

with all the lights turned off

when I come in

I ask her

if she knows who I am

I know

this is where she’s going to

spend the rest of her life

when I’m ready to leave

she says

she doesn’t want me to go

she keeps telling me

she might die

before I make it back

I put my arm around her

telling her

I love her

because

I don’t know

what else to say

when I get on the highway

I set the cruise at 75

traffic’s heavy tonight and

I find some blues on the radio

settle myself in for the long drive

thinking about

the two bottles of wine

the six or seven beers

chilling in the fridge

waiting for me at home

maybe

if it’s not too late

I’ll think about calling somebody

maybe

ask them what they’re up to

see if there’s anything going on

Winter

I wish

I mattered to someone

I wish

I didn’t have to

feel lost all the time

walking under naked trees

beneath the bone-white sky

and it’s always cold here

it always feels like winter time

when the snow falls

I think of angels

some days

I dream about love

dark moments

frozen in time

the road ahead

treacherous

especially at night

when you’re traveling alone

the snow blowing

and drifting

the wind rising up

crying out your name


James Babbs continues to live and write from the same small Illinois town where he grew up.  He has published hundreds of poems over the past thirty years and, recently, a few short stories.  James is the author of Disturbing The Light(2013) & The Weight of Invisible Things(2013).