back home- g clair

Plopped down in the rocking chair
in a mix of joy and gloom
the memories come flooding back
my sweet old childhood room

no doubt it's been my resting place
since life had dealt hard blows
unable to keep up with the pace
sometimes that's how it goes.

Moved back home last summer
the only place for sure
could offer me some comfort
and a financial cure.

She said you can take your old room
or sleep in the garage
that room is cold and drafy
and I've got my ego to massage.

Mom had placed a rocker
a Granny before my time
I'd sit and sip and rock a bit
gingerale coke lemon and lime.

Eyes are tired, mind is wired
i know it's getting late
I throw the switch
and in the dark
I'm back to being 8.

I suppose that worry burrows
deep within the genes
'cuz I would lie and comtemplate
the most disturbing scenes.

I'd worry about a robber
and double check the locks
or catching double pneumonia
and always wore my socks.

I'd worry about a bad man
and check under the bed
about a fire breaking out
and everything else I dread.

My mother taught me the simplest
prayer, which I did recite each night
though I think it quite traumatic
for it filled me with such fright.

"If I should die before I wake"
now scared that I was dyin'
"I pray the Lord my soul to take."
And that should stop my cryin?

"If I should live another day,
I pray the Lord to guide my way."
And guide He did, but I did stray
and wound up in this room today.

The truest test of character
not money or allure
but how you act and what you do
in secret when you're poor.

Sometimes you feel downright spent
and think you'll fall apart
you need to grasp the gift within
see the ending from the start.

Sometimes you need to get some sleep
or eat and have some wine,
other times it's a friendly call
to someone on the line.

But even through the worst of it
when to God I drunken dialed
The Lord, He taught me once again
to trust Him like a child

Now I'm grateful just to sit
on mom's fine throne of wicker
Gotten past the worst of it
but wait, here is the kicker:

Taking the backroads home one day
I drove by a mountain of junk
mostly discarded furniture
and somebody's stinkin' old trunk.

But wedged between a credenza
and unwanted Christmas cheer
an antique wide-assed rocker
wired to rock away fear.

With the same determination
as if salvaging a soul
I forced that rocker in my car
now where there was a will
is a hole.

And one day when I am ready
and able to move myself on
I'm gonna find a warm place
and beaming with grace
set that rocker in the sun

And If you're feeling down trodden
maybe needing an ear,
my rocker will be waiting
with a seat to fit your rear!