We raked leaves,

Two of us together

Last Saturday

When the sun shone down

A leaf-rake each.

We raked leaves,

In windrows neatly,

Lined across the lawn

In the time-honoured manner,

Six feet apart,

As far as we could reach,

Making linear order

Out of unresolved chaos.

We raked leaves,

On a plastic sheet,

Which when full,

We picked up and

We did pull,

To a pile that we made

In the trees,

Carting back the leaves from

Whence they came.

Not disappeared,

But set aside

Recreating lives,

And we talked as we pulled and we raked.

We raked leaves,

Leaves of memories,

Laid them bare and

Then discussed them,

With the “when” and “why”and “where”,

Summarized the background,

Presented all the facts,

Lined them up so neatly,

Memories laid in tracks.

And having then discussed them,

We made a little pile

Of our memories,

Then went indoors

And sat and talked a while.