Before the neighborhood
this hillside was wilderness
where I used to play.
I wish I had a picture.
After the paint job I wish I’d taken
a Before picture to lay along the After
to marvel at the difference.
It’s always after the remodel,
after the fire, the new addition,
that we wish we’d thought to get a Before,
sometimes to remember and sometimes
because we don’t,
but now it’s too late.
Friend, now is the Before.
Notice this now, while you can,
because it won’t be this way forever
and whether you rejoice or mourn
you’ll want to have noticed,
to have been here.
—October 1, 2018