OPEN HOUSE

Don't fix that squeaky handle,
Just come on up the walk.
I've heard you want to sell me,
We need to have a talk.

Under my roof are precious memories,
And through my doors some tales to tell.
You'd better listen closely,
Or I'll never, ever sell.


From this porch on which you're standing,
You can see that broken gate.
It's where little captain Jimmy
Crashed his bike in twenty-eight.

Beyond the fence and sidewalk,
See that lot across the street?
That's Johnny Mitchell's field of dreams
And land of magic feats.


This cracked front door is faded,
But new paint will have to wait.
This is how it looked when Johnny
First kissed Sue in fifty-eight.

Come into the parlor
And see the baby grand.
Look, there still lies Rock of Ages
On Aunt May's music stand.


Let's walk into the kitchen,
Where spelling words were read,
And waffles served for breakfast,
And ice cream before bed.

It's where Sue dropped the cobbler,
Those stains can still be seen.
Yet it tasted great with dinner
On Christmas, sixty-three.


Behind this door's a bedroom,
Where nursery rhymes seemed new,
When read to tiny Jimmy,
On sleepless nights in twenty-two.

It's where that precious Jimmy
First walked across the floor.
And those notches on the door frame
Number one and twenty more.


Through this door's Mother's bedroom,
And her cherished pictures, see?
It's where her heart was shattered
In the spring of forty-three.

And see this mismatched window?
It's the only part of me that's new,
After Johnny hit that homer...
World Series, fifty-two.


Now head out to my back yard,
Where family dogs have long run free,
And children swing inside that tire,
Beneath the walnut tree.

The roots back here run deeply,
I hope that's plain to see.
And don't you dare trim back that rosebush,
It's been that way since forty-three.


So don't you try to fix me,
Put those tools back in the shed.
And leave my front door painted
That precious shade of red.

Tell them if they want a new house,
To build one on that lot,
But if they want a fun home,
Then I'm the one they've sought.


David J Allen
October 29, 2004


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