Napowrimo 4/25/26: afternoon and a chair

 Today's Napowrimo prompt seeks to clarify a metaphor through repeated, varied usages. Let's see what comes from this.

a lonely seat at the outdoor table.
chair pulled back, invitations
to a stoic existence answered
with voices unheard or
nonexistant.

a moment
with thoughts. a recalibration.
recounting the day's travels
and travails to an audience of
none. applause in the
gentle thunder somewhere
stage left, still unseen behind
the lazy loungings of the rolling
countryside. it too remains.

an affront to this wisdom.
man yelling at a dog in
the sky to follow his commands
and still, the ball does not come
back to his feet. the ball, in our hearts,
still somewhere in the unkempt backyard
away from the prying eyes of the 
curious neighbor's judgement or the
heart's town code enforcement officer.

we've left their toys in the yard, gathering
moisture and rust; dust on the drier days.
long since abandoned for other opportunities.
newer thrills. a company unavailable to
them here. we too, know that we will join
these trinkets. on our sides and looking to the
sky for rain. for any signal of the shifting weather.

the thunder and its growing storm begin to gurgle
in the distance. the seat, out, inviting, begins to 
hum to me. siren song.
as the whir of the cloud's release
clarifies into a rush,
as the crank and crack uncoils.
it might be better not to take a seat
right this minute. maybe later.