“SOME DAY I WILL BUILD HERE” – Lucia Weinhardt

When I first found it years ago,

this ramshackle affair was just barely a footprint

on a sweet and lonely piece of land

not too far from the back side’s ever-alluring edge.

Nestled amongst the low-lying scrub

and the skeletal bones of the once burnt and still sea-bent pines.

listing a bit beneath hovering crows and lowering skies,

those well-worn boards (barely four walls and some kind of floor)

called out to be stepped within and ruminated over – sung to me

“Come on in – check out the view! This place has possibilities!”

And then I found the words – were they scrawled in spray paint or brushed on by hand?

I don’t remember, but I do recall that the lettering was bold

and the intent was clear – a stake had been claimed, and plans had been laid.

I felt an instant link to the scrawler of these words – something in his determination spoke to me,

something in the certitude…

With utter simplicity he’d conveyed worlds of meaning and passion

and I felt an indefinable tie to the person whose

sure hand had laid down those letters and laid bare his dreams like that.

We stayed a little while, soaking up what was left of the day’s sun,

wondering together what the story was,

dreaming our own dreams,

wondering would he build.

Now years have passed, and I’ve never sought out that little shack again – 

(don’t know if it still stands)

but it always makes me smile to think of it

and those words, so strong and determned

and I feel certain that even if the walls have crumbled,

that dream still hovers there

just like the crows that surely still haunt the place with their own fierce cries.

Lucia Weinhardt