Hazel's House - Richard Shindell

There’s a two-lane county road in northern Jersey

Winding up a hill beside a lake

Just before the road winds to an end

Is Hazel’s house

Long white picket fence around the front yard

A wagon wheel someone made into a gate

Flagstone steps will lead you to the front door

Of Hazel’s house

And Hazel will will have seen you from the window

She’s waiting for you as you climb the steps

She says, «Thank God, we were starting to get worried

Come on in.»

It’s New Year’s and the place is overflowing

Cousins, aunts and uncles gather round

«How long has it been?

It’s good to see you

How you’ve grown.»

And the uncles all have one eye on the Rose Bowl

One by one they slink back to the den

Everybody else heads for the kitchen

You go with them

She always has the crumbcake at the ready

Today is no exception — there it is

The order of the universe intact

At Hazel’s house

And no one seems to know that this is heaven

They say we only know it by and by

That someday all will be revealed

Well, here it is:

There’s a two-lane county road in northern Jersey

Winding up a hill beside a lake

Just before the road winds to an end

Hazel’s house

Go on in