They were there when my daughter was
Born.

Walking through the dusty back roads of
Life.

They were there , on my feet the day everything ended; the day the two towers
Fell.

They got glass stuck in them when I searched, trying to find any
Sign.

That it wasn’t happening.

They have been many places, those shoes. I didn’t even know where they’d go, when I bought them. It was because they were on
Sale

And I liked the leathery way that they
Smelled.

They have walked a million
Miles.

They’ve walked right through 19
Years.

I used to leave them by the front door, and my daughter loved to put them on over her own
Shoes.

They were there, when I buried my wife, and smudged them up with
Mud.

They were there when I drove right out of my life-past all the last stop signs into an alien place, unrecognized and
New.

They were the only thing they could pull off my dead body-the car wreck crushed the rest of me up too
Bad.

They were there, sitting by my
Coffin

Before my daughter put me in the ground. Then she took them home, unaware of where they had
Been.