Amidst a Southern Sky

 For my favorite Great Uncle, Robert.
I met you in the sky last night
Somewhere over West Texas
Between Amarillo and Ralls
You were young again
Breathing free
Sitting on the porch
Of a big white plantation house
that we owned
I smiled
And for once, instead of swatting yours away
I lit two cigars
and sat down beside you
"Say Slim," you began
the cigar dancing between your lips
I sigh,
The nickname never fit
"Where's Dennis?"
Out he comes from inside the house
With three plates of your pecan pie
and dominoes jingling in the pocket of his overalls
 The stories begin
You drove at ten
and hustled moonshine
stolen from gangsters
to buy you dreams
you could never afford
From somewhere inside the house
I hear Clara cooking
creating a melody of pots and pans
I smile and think,
this must be heaven
because it is.
Laughing through the smoke
suspended in time
we three
porchsitting in a Southern sky