Weeds among the Bricks

he told me one summer
he laid brick, one piece by one
piece for a patio for his parents,
the hot sun burned his back,
years later he had melanoma
and had to rush to the hospital
for emergency surgery.
he left home, and every year
visited his father, the spaces
between the carefully laid bricks
filled with weeds, purslane and
thistle, milkweed and mallow,
the sharp edges he laid so carefully
now crumbled with age and neglect.
years later, he laid brick again
for his new wife,
straight rows of aged brick he
gathered from his father’s house,
the same small gaps to gather
the seeds which infested the patio
so long ago, places for the same
weeds, this time he left the weeds
to his new wife
to weed alone, never
looking back.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/icanchangethisright/37405998/