Lumber Run

Lumber Run

They know what they’re doing, placing

the box of shims by the door on your way

out. This isn’t their first time watching 

a pilgrim set out to build something

of the long afternoon of their life, 

that Saturday saw-dust swagger 

behind the lumber cart, bright denial

for someone to help load it up 

in the back of the truck. 

Their “see you soon” is weathered, 

pressure-treated from the footsteps

of those who always come limping 

back. What they don’t carry, though, 

for all their expertise kept stacked

on neat pallets in the back, is the piece

you don't yet know you’ll need, 

that scrap belonging to you already, 

the one in your very own shed

you saved out of a vague intuition

that the missing piece of your particular puzzle

is never kept in stock on the shelves.