THE BEST BOOTS I'VE EVER HAD

The best boots

I've ever had,

hand-made,

soul-gifted,

(eighty years

of shoemakers

in my southern

ancestors

would agree,

few words as they had)

&

now I'm afraid

of wearing

them on these

muddy autumn

roads divided

by vast gray puddles,

roads unfit

for such boots,

roads that

would tarnish them,

waiting for

the frozen ground

&

the white shroud

that will not tarnish

them, the best boots

I've ever had.

...

(the only ones

to compete

were the pristine

Lappish shoes I had

when around

seven, enthralling me;

I wore a furry cap,

a cardigan embroided with firs

and a carving knife

hanging on my belt,

never again

as much like

the dead

northern ancestors.)

14.11.2025