The House On The Corner

On the corner of an avenue and a street

Sits the house where I reside

A space that has been my home almost all my life

Where family near and far were always welcome

A place to stay for a while if you ever needed one

Twelve bodies in five bedrooms

A tight fit but that’s how we liked it

Over the years so many have come and gone

Moved on to lives with other loved ones

Or broke our hearts when they moved to the beyond

***

On the corner of an avenue and a street

Sits the house that holds all my childhood memories

Memere in her chair watching daytime soaps

Tatie in the kitchen cooking with all her love

Summer days, riding bikes and two-on-one basketball games

Playing with cousins who felt like brothers from another mother

Family BBQs and Domino games

The sound of silly banter and loud laughter as they played

Beautifully made birthday cakes specially tailored just for you

Birthday songs, sung in celebration of life, in celebration of you

Christmas mornings anxiously waiting for adults to wake up

Presents wrapped in red, white, gold, and green

Laid under that same old lite up faux Christmas tree

From the year before and the year before that

***

A million moments, a million memories all live in the house

On the corner of an avenue and a street

Where I have a bedroom

That used to belong to Tatie

My second mother and best friend

No longer among us

But her spirit remains till the end

I’ve made it my own the best I can do

But in some places, her things remain

And to me, that’s just fine

It keeps our connection strong over time

***

Though time has passed

And things have changed

I’m grateful for the memories that remain

In the house on the corner of an avenue and a street