Red Wool Sweater c1972

Sometimes it is always the same.

Red Wool Sweater c1972

I am wearing the same outfit 

that I wore in 2019 in Saint Petersburg, Russia

and maybe the pants were a different fit

but I’m wearing my grandfather’s red wool sweater

(it is the one that he wore in a photo

with my now dead grandmother 

dated back to 1972)

and the black turtleneck that my mom bought

from her favorite brand as a send off

and a pair of doc marten boots that I would learn

do not help you in snow and ice

and a scarf around my head 

to keep the cold far away.

In 2019, I walked across a red bridge 

and hurried by a storefront that was owned by my great-

great-great uncle who sold jewelry

in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

My grandfather showed me a picture

of the shop and the bridge and the snow

from 1895 and I am forced to pause:

Sometimes, it is always the same

even years later.