Tag: father

i
To JHSG ~ 18.12.26-13.01.08

In all our lifetime of letters
I never kept but a single one -
the repartee in ink, back and forth
stretching across county lines
through rifts, gaps of emotion 

I never said 
but they were like hand holds
the looked for, longed for
certain proof of the unforgotten
dressed as news, beautifully scripted too
 in Waterman's royal blue

All the more prized
those last vestiges of words
upbeat in illness, broken by a fall
apologetic and unsteady the cursive
yet still that familiar closure
"Fondest love now and forever"

what else could your epitaph be
- my letter of thanks, forgiveness
an amnesty 

ii
To DT ~ 20.06.48-19.9.22

After our together years
the ever after parting
comes a first and last letter
my card, your rejoinder
healing words from the sick bed
and what a summation
with death abiding, a distillation
all that we failed to mention
the dones and the left undones.

There've been incidental meetings
thoughtful, proxy memos 
a florist's card or word of mouth
missives relayed by others. All these
and so much more, I now store 
against your absence.