<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">To a Passer-By on Thanksgiving Day</span></div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Gentle Reader, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">it is good that you have paused</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">along your way, accepting</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">the silent invitation of these lines</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">For it was you I had in mind</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">when I sat to write these words,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">you, holding a paper cup</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">of lukewarm dark roast coffee</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">and a satchel filled with groceries,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">or you, clutching the dog’s leash</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">in one hand, with the other</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">pushing a stroller around the corner,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">and even you, whom I had not</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">imagined in such precise terms</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">For you I drew my pen across the empty page</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">as earlier I drew my garden rake</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">again and again through withered grass</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">and over the buried front walk,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">metal tines clawing wet concrete</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">gathering sodden maple leaves,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">potent gift of high summer sun</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">turning then returning now to earth</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">For you I cleared a solitary path</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">prepared the way for your lonely passage</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">so that a mere moment of your journey </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">through the detritus of this world </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">might be blessed by an open space</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">awaiting your arrival,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">conspicuous in its care,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">this page inscribed in answer</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">to the ground now scraped bare.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Seth H. Truby</div><div><br></div></div></body></html>