Epitaph for a Pair of Old Shoes (Donald Justice)

Humble, born to the earth,
They knew where they stood.

When they moved,
It was because they must.

Anger moved them,
And the desire to be elsewhere,

Or something in them
Responding to music.

They knew also
What waiting can be.

Side by side, they mastered it,
Like an old married couple.

(From Collected Poems, Alfred A. Knopf, 2004)