listen again

close your eyes-- listen again
to crispy leaves falling in the autumn wind,
a boy and his father hard at play,
another little one amazed by fast moving clouds,
planes, birds, squirrels
anything outside his sphere of his usual
tucked up place in the house.

keep listening
don't get up to finish dinner
--hot dogs, broccoli, pureed squash--
don't check Twitter
and
for heaven's sake
don't get up to write this poem.

let dinner burn
for it will all burn anyway
time and effort and lists and
maybe
or especially
these words.

what will be left
are these little voices
exclaiming in the now dark evening
sweet, blurry images to fill your memory
of moments full of life
your life their life our life together.