‘Keep it centerpiece in your life’
‘Respect its power’
‘If only your dad...’
Grandads last words
.
Just a portrait of a man
Darkened features
Staring straight ahead
Wiry hair
Eyes I never liked looking
Into
Moonlit backdrop
.
Did as grandad said
Years passed
Kept it at the end of the hall
At a height of where his
Head would be
.
And at the lowest times of my life
Separations
Death
Thoughts of my own demise
Failures
I’d look down that dark hallway
To see
A silhouette form
Around the frame
A man
Drunk and enraged
I cursed at it
‘You are nothing to me!’
Only to see its eyes
Turn red
Turn back again to see it
Go back
Once again
.
Thrown it out
Torn it apart
Burned it
Only to find it
On the wall
The next morning
.
And one day
After I’d lost everything
After decades
Of failure
Loss
Torture
But never looking at it during that time
I looked down that darkened
Hallway
And
The portrait
Was me...