Dad spoke of his father today.
I listened with Friday
Beer breath and keen
Ears, as he said:
I hope to God your brother
And you won't remember
Me as a ****
Fool when I'm gone,
Then coughed that gurgle-rasp
That promises significant
Changes in a son's
Life within
Not too distant a
Future.
Those **** cigarettes.
Half a lung gone, surgery
Scar a part of that back
That I remember I thought
Would carry me
Forever.
We never spoke too emotionally.
He does it more and
More, and all I can do is
Prepare,
And to speak such truths as:
Dad. You've impressed our
Friends, charmed our women,
Driven us through snow storms
And late nights
To get us to -or home from- either.
Fed us, chopped wood through
Summers to keep us warm through
Winters.
Taught us languages and carpentry,
History and poetry,
Classical wrestling and chivalry.
You've made us laugh since
Before we knew how to.
I think of you whenever I smell
Sawdust, new guitar strings, and smoke
(Only minutes old, his cough
Was the first sound I reacted to...)
Your memory is safe.
Whenever your time comes
To leave us to the strength of our
Own arms and souls,
Trust that your rest is well earned.
He laughed a little,
Eyes wet from coughing
And whatever.
I could die content tomorrow,
Having told him.
Some giants don't fall.
They just lie down.
Not to wither away and die.
But to retire,
The way oak trees,
Mountains, revolutionary ideas
And gods
Retire.