In Service: Writer Urges Taking Time to Enjoy Simple Pleasures with Friends

Writers were asked to respond to the theme of "service' as part of Studio B Art Gallery's "In Service" project sponsored by a grant from the Berks County Community Foundation.

by Joe Shirk*

A Road Before Us

We have a road to walk my friends
From summer into autumn chill
Beneath November's skies we reach
The changes where things seem to end
Where frost in gilded color burns
Away the loves we held so long
A time of loss of all we knew
Before the road began to turn
Unknown into the winter's night
A time when those who lead turn back
To things we let lie in the dust
Of crumbled pasts, of wrongs and rights
A road my friends - been walked before
Through city streets and small town squares
And one with faith we walk today
Joined hands and hearts from shore to shore

Catching Up

My friend I can see
That we're both caught up in
All the things we must do

And there's never enough
Precious time in each day
For a moment to rest

To hear in the silence
Wind singing in trees,
To watch the sun rising,

To tell all the tales,
Of long ago years
To ask all the questions

Of how life has been,
To feel in the answers
Things deeper than words

So just for this morning
For one hour, or three
Let the world roll on past.

Let the busy things wait
As they always will do
Let's sit for a moment

Where our paths crossed again
Because morning will move
To afternoon shade

Then shadows stretch long
In the fading daylight,
And night, falls - so fast...

But here, in this moment
There's enough time to share
I'll tell you my stories

And you tell me your's
It's time overdue,
So, my friend - let's rest here!

*​JD Shirk is a Lancaster County poet, musician, and retired commercial driver whose prose and verse explore the winding paths of life, nature, and shared human experience. His work has appeared in Poetry in Transit, Otherwise Engaged, Raven Cage Ezine, and Penny’s Poetry Blog. Through his writing, he focuses on uncovering the vibrant, overlooked details hidden within the everyday landscape.

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