Jerry Chasen's Blog

When the quilt was in DC
some months ago, I was too.
A souvenir with pithy
words caught me as I walked through.

“All I want,” the button read,
“is the cure and my friends back.”
Tears came. “I’ll take It,” I said,
and stuck the pin on my pack.

I didn’t think of it much
til I used the pack again.
In an airport line, a touch,
her voice soft, “I like your pin.”

I heard the button’s request
once more–the words “All I want…”
particularly. If pressed,
I thought, I’d take that and flaunt

my luck. But truth? I want that
and more. Bottom line–my dreams–
¬I want them all back. Still, what
lies ahead but time, where schemes

and plans and wishes made may,
through thought and work and just plain
good luck, come to pass someday.
No one knows what time remains

for them. For me to reclaim
my dreams, I have but to see
them still as mine, and re-aim
my sights there. No guarantee.

So my wish and happy prayer
for all this season is time–
first to relook dreams laid bare
by fear or other mind slime,

and restore in our mind’s eye
those worthy of repair; two,
time to let that sucker fly–¬
Life sparkles in dreams come true.

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