History Lessons

On the old highway which leads
into town
you'd be surprised to find
a part of your past
which you thought you'd lost
forever still alive & well,
still as headstrong as ever.
Around here,
if one looks diligently enough
one will find a little history
about this place
that has survived time
& the elements.

Here it is, at long last:
another book of pictures from a bygone era,
sepia-toned photographs
taken around the 1930s -
old pole barns, an old schoolhouse or two,
an old church on the corner
of who knows where & what roads.
Several decades later, these memoirs
of life past are still standing
for us to see, & are so much more
than roadside markers which tell us
where we are going, where we're from.
These pictures of home are also
a part of our lives, inextricably entwined
into our heritage;
they are more than a passing moment
of dedication to our fathers
& those who came before.

You realize that these landmarks
have always been here for the longest time:
sure, you may pass them by
at light speed, not give them
much thought at first
but over time you'll discover
that they're here to stay,
as if to tell you that you can't
disavow your past, your very roots.
A part of us still is sustained
with each passing glance
into scrapbook after scrapbook,
with each passing photo being taken;
a part of us still survives
without wavering, without losing track
of time, without being written off
as so much nostalgia.

Down the road one goes,
knowing full well that history can't be
escaped or evaded:
from truss bridges to old bulidings
one sees history,
one sees life still living on,
refusing to make itself irrelevant.