The Dinner Table - Robert Chun

 In the center of our house lies

Not a scrapbook of pictures

Or photo filled album or frame

But a testament

 

Once new, now old

Four legs eternally

Sit in the same spot

With chairs on the side

 

In 1993 a chair was added with joy

That made three

In 1997 another was bought

Four chairs, two boys

In 1998 the last one came

Baby girl’s laughter made five

 

Engraved on the top is light writing

From division problems long ago

To the calculus problems from yesterday

When my pen just pressed too hard

 

A burn mark where a six year old chef

Set down a hot pot without a pad

And the warped wood

Of a spill never cleaned up

 

A little boy crawling under the table

Laughing in his hiding spot

Now working diligently on its surface

Tapping keys on a new laptop

 

Memories, photos, snapshots of life

A record of childhood

A simple wooden table