"as small as the world and as large as alone"*

My father built this little Homasote clubhouse when we were young. It had a front porch, a tile floor and a real double-hung mini (showroom sample) window in the back.

He named it "After You" and even hung a small professionally lettered sign with the name inscribed on it.

My dad never played baseball or catch with me and rarely said "I love you" - but he spent so much time with us and for us.

The clubhouse is gone, that picnic table in the foreground is gone and I am much older now than he was when he built the clubhouse, but I still clearly remember the color of the floor and the smell inside the walls.

* * *

* maggie and millie and molly and may

maggie and millie and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

millie befriended a stranded star
who's rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea.

~ e.e. cummings