Monday, May 25, 2009

Once More (for Dad)

I learn that a friend had twins yesterday,

a year after her mother died.

As I go my way, I smile.

My mind drifts

to a scene

of grass and flowers growing back

at time-lapse speed

over a grave site.


What is mortal

is swallowed up by life.


My own father’s death

is just a few weeks past.

The ground by his headstone

is still broken and churning,

hard clods lay on top

like fists,

and though the dirt was replaced

the hole remains,

a scar in the grass.


But the spring rains will come.

With the whispered hush of their falling

they will wash and settle

the churning ground.

Even the clods will soften

and open.


Underneath,

roots will mend

their torn fabric;

shoots will find their way up

through the broken places,

and flowers will lift their faces to the sun


once more.

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