To Neilburg Poem by Trevor Toews

These years have done You well!
I can't find
An empty place I would have filled,
And I wonder how soon after I was gone,
The whole day came when I never crossed Your mind.

However long, You didn't suffer any.
I see Your ponds brim full where,
In those days of mutual loss
We could have walked across.

I notice, too, the towering elms,
That were little when I said goodbye.
You prospered out along the highway,
And paved the grid road, wide and high
Past Chiverton's and both speed curves, to the ridge,
And through the river valley,
You straightened out the bridge,

Oh, and the crops!
Your combines all are wider than they were,
And September always was and is my favorite thing.
You know the melancholy harvest brings,
When the geese fly south,
Like I did fifteen Octobers ago.

But roads, and trees, and, crops,
These are merely conversation starters,
Awkward drops
At first, then small talk flows
To deeper channels.

What I mean is, You really...
Life, it moved along,
It did for all of us, I mean.
And, You really did fine!
It wasn't what we thought,
The end of anything.
I did well too.
We found a place,
And You filled our empty space.

Look at You!
Your smile and the vibrant step and twinkle in Your eye,
Laughter from somewhere genuine,
Mingled with mine.

I know some of the summers,
They were tough,
True for both of us,
But the leaving is behind,
And I look around,
Relieved,
Almost incredulous,
You've done just fine.