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ELMER'S TOOLS
When I use one of Elmer's tools--
wrench, hammer, grinding stone--
it gives a kind of glow. Some
would say his ghost perhaps? No.
It's just remembering how Elmer thrived
on restoring mechanical things, using
these tools to fix all within his
ken--car, motor, most any machine--
and make it function smoothly again.
The happiest of men with a tool in hand,
and even when too weak to work, he kept
buying wrenches, screwdrivers, sockets, drills--
tools to maintain and set his world aright
and make it run smooth and straight.
But what ailed him couldn't be replaced,
adjusted or rebuilt. No one's tools could
fix what forty years of smokes had done.
In the end, emphysema won. His widow said,
in return for tasks performed: please take
the tools. He loved them too much to let
them rust. As they had no son,
I was happy to oblige them both.
It's a humbling thing to stand with Elmer's
tools in hand, knowing I'll use them but for
a time, and wondering who'll one day own mine.
Ronald Crowe
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