Dreams of Life

When I was in High School, my mum was redecorating an old-people's home. My brother and sisters and I often spent after-school time helping out around the home.
There were a lot of elderly people there, each with their own story. One lady sat in the foyer of the home, every day, waiting for her visitors. She was always dressed and ready for a great day out and she would tell anyone and everyone, "My children are coming to visit me today. They're bringing the little ones too!" She sat there every day. And, in the three months that I was around, she never received one visitor.
This poem was written while thinking of that lonely old lady. I imagined what turns my life would have taken by the time I sat in her seat.

Dreams of life (a poem)
By David Edgren

I remember the years of my young life
I was a high strung and active lad
I remember building castles in the sky
I was going to be the most famous
I was going to run my own business
I was never going to lose a thing
I knew how things worked.

She and I met our senior year
She had long smooth brown hair
She had deep green jeweled eyes
She was everything I ever wanted
She was obviously what I needed
She had plans for her life too
She and I got married.

We both worked in order to make it
We had an average life like others
We made monthly payments on a car
We bought a home as an investment
We had a boy first and then a girl
We loved them and showed them that
We gave them all we had.

They both had a unique way about them
They were so different and so the same
They grew up so fast we barely kept up
They started school and soon high school
They both saw what they could be and have
They each had great dreams for their lives
They both married and started a new life.

We were alone again and it was strange
We were not used to such a quiet house
We worked for ten more years or so
We retired and decided to take it easy
We travelled from place to place
We saw as much as we could see
We were happy together.

She was everything I ever wanted
She was obviously what I needed
She loved me through the years
She stayed for both good and bad
She started loosing her balance
She had to be put in a home
She died two years ago today.

I look back an awful lot these days
I spend a lot of time in laughter
I spend a lot of time in tears
I sit outside in the evenings
I play games in the parlor
I was never the most famous
I have lost many things.

They have busy lives these days
They both have jobs and children
They send cards once in a while
They write letters when they can
They called today to plan a visit
They said they'll bring the kids
They should be here soon.