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AD LIBITUM

Roads Taken

Walden S. Morton

15 November 1996 | Volume 125 Issue 10 | Page 857

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My eldest and I went up together to the Maine camp
along the lake. Wisps of red-gold curls
blew across her brow, covering the frown of anticipation.
Aspens drooped in the summer heat as she unloaded
boots and jodphurs for the first job as camp counselor.
Her tears gathered,

so I drove away, waving
out the window
only to receive the
knife
five miles
down the road
in the sand
beside the
tar.

***
The asphalt edges crumbled to sandy pebbles
along the New Hampshire roadside as
I follow my second child.
Slim browned legs pedal gracefully
to a last summer swim in our clear brook.
Outlined by sun sliding sideways
from the grey-blue mountain-head,
this dancer daughter goes alone,
up an ordinary hill.

My elbows press against my sides involuntarily,
waiting for the blade to strike again.
copy right mark 1996 American College of Physicians

Author and Article Information

Top Author & Article Info

Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107.

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