One evening I sat on the ground with my father
I saw the delicate curve of his spine
That held the weight of thought
For so many years
Perhaps it was the years of bowing to the gods of work that shaped him so
That evening
He in his bedclothes
And me in mine
I looked at the way his body folded
With tender awkwardness
How young he looked out of a suit
I could see
His hands
His feet in particular
And thought
You were once a child
What were you like?
Did you throw stones through the windows of old ruins?
And feel the ecstasy
Of the glass breaking
And in that sound
Feel as if another part of you had just broken open
Did you build a den in the woods?
Your own wild kingdom
A place where your imagination could breathe and be itself
Did you hold your own hand in the dark when you were frightened?
Did you kill an animal?
What did you dream of?
Did that place in you
That place only you know
But no one else knows
Hidden from the world
That place
Just behind the heart
In the dark red cave of warm flesh
Did you feel a piercing love reach you there?
Just there
I hope so father
I hope so
