A PAPERMAKER’S PASSING

With heavy heart I continued to read

The name at the top told it all

Another of ours had breathed their last

Our mill our town was fading from life

So many had already gone to rest

The number of old guys a paltry few

I myself dangerously close to the name

Who had read the last notice

Who had marked the passing of Russell

Or of Jack, or John, or Bert or Donny

Had they slipped from life’s warmth

Without fanfare as they had lived?

Had the Christmas Ball been the high

Or the day they had fought the mill fire?

Had they lived their life a number?

Countless the men I had toiled with

Men who had raised their long gone children

Some had been old when I came

Some had shared a schoolroom

Many had fished and ate from emerald shores

Fewer had joined me in the hunt

Who else had marked their passing

I hoped I wasn’t the only one

These men were heroes to children only

They toiled all hours of the clock

Many were diseased and maimed from their service

All for the reward every second Thursday

These men who had made paper

Who had made others rich with their sweat

Now in final rest, where ere long

I too would go to join them

Would any read what came after my name

Would any weep at my passing

My final mark in life would be papermaker?

Would any remember me for more?

The town houses already full of ghosts

Of several generations gone

Would folks care fifty years from now

That I had been the fourth owner of that house?

Harri Leinonen 06/04