Barn Raising

Barn Raising

for my husband on his 60^th birthday

When the post and beam walls are lifted into place

perspiring men breath each other’s exhalations

and tremble as they hold the piece erect

until the wood groans and drops into precise slots

Ready to stand at attention for centuries

It is a stylized dance with the builder calling out the steps

and willing neighbors guiding beams into slots

handing floor board up the stairless stories

All day there is the smell of wood and sweat

forty minds and bodies in full agreement

bend, lift, hold

the ache of beams sliding into place

the thud of mallet hitting peg

And as I watch you work among these neighbors and strangers

I see your bones and muscles relax into a rhythm

that you have known for a lifetime

You and your companions are grace and brawn and purpose

And I stop worrying if you are up to the job 

Realizing that this is all you’ve ever been up to

taking disparate parts of the world

and piecing them together into something useful and beautiful

And for a day I stop fretting over how we’ll

wrap up our somewhat disappointing careers

and begin to imagine all the ways we can combine the rest of our lives

so much building yet to come