Written by John Bentz and HastyWords

♦

I awoke to hear him on the tractor

Golden light caressed my eyes

The summer breeze a ghostly life

Coming to coax from me a morning sigh

 

For the bed seemed cold and hard

Even summer broke no spell

Golden light’s caress so distant

And his heart ignores my cry

 

Winter’s heartache still resides

Within the transparency of his life

Words long ago lost inside an icy castle

He built to keep away the apologies I try

 

As I chisel the icy tomb

Sparkling light on the shards

Echoes of the past enchant me

A smile chokes a laugh at the days gone by

 

My laughter met him mid plow

At the edge of a freshly mowed field

His frozen stare met my bankrupt blues

And yet behind the veil a glimmer of heartache

 

Silence reclaimed as tractor key turned

And before his thoughts were revealed

He sat for awhile a statue, stewing

Before tears began to fall, forgiveness sealed

NOTE: This poem is a work of fiction but I couldn’t help but think about my own dad.  These words, thankfully, never applied to our relationship because my dad never cried unless he did so from laughing so hard he also never made me feel like I needed to be forgiven.  Always there my dad has always been a rock.  Love you dad.

POEM READ BY HASTYKID