POETRY

Good Fences make Good neighbors

October 11, 2022

“Good fences make good neighbors”,​​ they say

and so I went to walk the​​ far back​​ fence​​ 

that​​ defines​​ the​​ boundary between me and the next​​ 

guy​​ but also​​ would establish​​ ​​ me​​ as​​ a good

citizen​​ to reside next to him.

and I​​ reset​​ a stone or two, pulled

a few young sprouts, cut down one​​ 

sapling and pretended not to notice

his approach.

“Good fences make good neighbors”

he said​​ as he​​ came up​​ along beside me

setting stones on his side, pulling sprouts

and cutting saplings,

Yup, I said, best to do it now before winter

Yup, he​​ said, I suppose it is​​ 

and so we moved​​ along the quarter mile

setting and pulling and cutting

until the end and we agreed that we had

done a good job

Best do this more often he suggested

I agreed​​ and wondered​​ if it might be better

done monthly. ​​ He supposed it would be

ok to try it and so we agreed to walk

this fence again

after the next full moon,

weather permitting of course

and we parted

but I tarried just a bit

just enough to loosen a stone or two

so that there would be​​ a​​ good​​ and sufficient​​ reason

to be walking that quarter next month

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