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lnhammerSometimes my father, tired or perhaps
a few sheets to the wind, will mention them.
“Jemimah, they are gone,” he says, “all gone
to ash and dust,” then cries and says no more.
When I ask Ma, she wipes her hands and says,
“It was before your time, and best forgot.
Now wash those peas.” My uncle Eliphaz
shakes his head with, “She was just like you.”
What happened then, and will it come again?
I’d ask the ghosts that only old ones see
but likely they’d just smile and pat my head
and shuffle to the porch to stare in space.
---L.
a few sheets to the wind, will mention them.
“Jemimah, they are gone,” he says, “all gone
to ash and dust,” then cries and says no more.
When I ask Ma, she wipes her hands and says,
“It was before your time, and best forgot.
Now wash those peas.” My uncle Eliphaz
shakes his head with, “She was just like you.”
What happened then, and will it come again?
I’d ask the ghosts that only old ones see
but likely they’d just smile and pat my head
and shuffle to the porch to stare in space.
—15 October 1993
Which is older than I thought.---L.