In Memory of Earl Hamner Jr. Creator of "The Waltons"

is it the ghost of ourselves that is gone now,
that we had lost,then, through you, found or
the future ghost the one whose hand we will clasp
in a golden land at last, one day.

but now.
a rusty gate opens and closes
welcome cries but we can't hear

a pearl sunrise

falls over his mountain features
a face refined through time
made more fragile before the end

endurance itself.and home
made real again. for this, we weep.

we won't forget your blue hills.
they are- our own.

mary angela douglas 25 march 2016