Waking & Sleeping (for Dad)

It was like so many other times

I’d seen you sleeping—

on the couch after dinner;

with a baby on your chest;

on a lawnchair in the back yard.

Of course, you weren’t so thin then.

Your body wasn’t gnawed away by cancer.

Still, it wasn’t so different

with your head slightly cocked

and your hands resting on your chest.

The real difference

will be in the waking.

You won’t yawn and reach for the remote;

you won’t stretch and scratch;

you won’t roll out of your chair

to grab a cold one.

This time,

you will wake

where no eye has seen;

you will wake suddenly from troubled dreams

only to find yourself safe

in the secret dark,

arms enfolding you.