Poems From Inside Me

Martha's Eyes

 Aunt Martha’s Eyes

In the hot, dry, used-up coal mine town

Known just as Drum for miles around,

My dear old Aunt Martha once lived in an old house

With my Uncle Joe, her common-law spouse

They had adopted a child and watched him grow

No one knows if he was mean or just terribly slow

I was just small and hadn’t known about such things at all

I never knew cousin Roger was nearly their destruction or fall

They both were so dear to me, those two tough old birds

They inspired me to write many poems and pages of words

I won’t ever forget one day in their car in that valley of dirt

I did something bad and I thought I would soon be hurt

I had dropped dear Aunt Martha’s car ashtray

And I was filled with fear at what she would do or say

For sure I imagined being hit or yelled at

But what really happened was nothing like that

My Dear old Aunt Martha said, ‘oh, it’s alright child’

And then she looked at me, hugged me and actually smiled

Those were the sweetest words ever spoken to me

Why I loved her so much was easy to see

Back then I had an old camera with the view finder on top

And the lens in the front, a gift from my pop

I tried to take Martha’s picture to save her face in my mind

One sacred image of one who was so kind

But I knew so little then I just took pictures of dirt

She passed not long after and the loss really hurt

The funny thing though was that in the buttons on my Dad’s chair

An image came to me of Martha’s eyes and silver hair

I would often sit down on it and stare until I could see

My Aunt Martha’s eyes looking back at me

A few years ago as I write this my Uncle Joe passed away

And we drove down to Drumheller on that sad day

We also went to visit Martha though she was in heaven

It seemed so strange to see she died in seventy-seven

I was just six but I still see those eyes

So beautiful, loving, caring and wise

And I think of her often when I make a mistake

Especially when things bigger than old ashtrays break

Leif Gregersen

January 3, 2015

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