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David Edge and Lynn Edge

A Text Message to the Itinerant Minister

My apology for the late note regarding my dad, but I wanted you to know a little about him before the service tomorrow. Carroll was born and spent his early childhood years a mile or so from the Edge Cemetery. His family lived in a log house (built from cedar cut on the property) with no floor. It was during the depression and they had nothing, including shoes. He would talk nostalgically about how his feet were so tough that running barefoot across rocks and thorns was no obstacle.

deer tracks
on the loosened earth
gathering nightfall

He was a very optimistic person.  My sister once told him about an article that said people’s happiest time of life was their 70’s, and she asked him what he thought. He said, “In my 20’s I was in the Navy and went through college, in my 30’s I was teaching and bought my land, in my 40’s and 50’s I raised a family. All the years were good.”

remote funeral
a hand-painted arrow
marks the turn

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Note: Title and haiku by Lynn Edge. Prose by David Edge.

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About the Authors

David Edge graduated from Texas A&M with an Environmental Science degree and works in that field. Lynn Edge has written haibun since 2004.  This is her first writing collaboration with her son.