He tried to remove the rocks in the rough driveway

        Did Jimmy, the old colored who worked without wages

        The old man, simple, gentle, not quite part of the family

        Who had a bed in the attic, a toilet in the basement

        And took his meals in the pantry

        The sweet old man, who had ears for the troubles of each family member

        Expressed no opinion, who was silent and safe

        Who worked hard, even struggled with boulders in the driveway

        When not drunk.

        No one knew his age, not even he

        Nor where he came from and no one asked

        He came, he stayed, he worked and if payed he drank

        He drank as he worked, he drank hard with no rest until he could drink no more

        He could drink no more, nor remember who he was, where he belonged, or why he lived

        Finally the family collected him, stinking of alcohol and slime,

        Cleaned him up and put him back to work.

        Jimmy struggled with those rocks, small nuisances that grew

        Into enormous boulders as large as a car, boulders that if removed

        left a deep chasm that somehow had to be filled

        No one told him that the driveway had to be smooth, perfect, boulder-less, chasm-less

        But with that driveway Jimmy did battle

        Between chores, again and again he returned to that rough driveway

        When not drunk

        When not drunk, without wages, stage by stage, year through year,

        He struggled with that driveway

        That fertile driveway, that each spring grew more rocks, which Jimmy harvested

        Harvested and crushed, harvested again and again with shovel and pickax

        When not drunk

        Jimmy the old colored who had no past, who drank, who earned no wages

        Who had nothing but a bed in the attic and a toilet in the basement,

        Who struggled to make a driveway smooth

        Struggled and struggled until he disappeared

        And now no one can quite remember when.

        The driveway remains rough and rocky.

Copyright © Peter Goodwin, 2005. All Rights Reserved.