Resilience

Carey, Idaho

The people come and go,
but Carey is used to the churn.
Time is a daunting flow.

Pioneers long ago
let the church run the town.
The people come and go.

Roads and railroads come slow,
and water is a grave concern.
The town withstands the flow.

Some children come to know
they need to leave to learn.
The people come and go.

Others choose to go
on missions and then return.
The town weathers the flow.

Carey continues to grow.
The seasons take their turn
while the people come and go.
The town welcomes the flow.

NOTE: In the 1961-62 school year, I attended Idaho State College on a track scholarship. Sprinter John Briggs, the “Carey Comet,” was a good friend of mine on the team. I got to spend one weekend with his family in Carey, a small Mormon community in southern Idaho. It had about 300 people at the time. Carey still has less than a thousand residents these days. I wrote this villanelle for the prompt “small town.”