Some Long Shut Place June 10, 2010

Some Long Shut Place

by the Rambling Man

I thought I heard you today
beyond in the parlour
rummaging through a drawer or some long shut place
a chair emitting your creak, too light to be anyone else

and yesterday too
when the child fell in the bathroom,
hushing her tears and the crying with silence.
Every so often you’d hold her, and she’d stop.

I think I hear you often
in her and in me and in things long forgotten.
A glance or a cough or a smell.
I stop for a minute and check, just to be sure.

I need you today
for the head is full of oul crap
like stale oil trying to start a new engine
churning and flying and not moving an inch.

I think you can hear me today thrun in a heap and distressed.
“Get up now and get out in the fresh air!”, you’d say
“You’re as good as any of them, and better than most!”
Yesterday’s words of guidance, provide my inspiration for today …

In memory of my late father, 14 years lost today.