A Grandfather's Prayer (a poem)

A Grandfather's Prayer


I have seen the snow
fall for eighty winters.
I have rolled my eyes back
to see the details of a dream.

I have seen children grow
in the belly of my love.
Felt the dust of fields
settle in my lungs unwanted.

I have walked empty shores
and felt the draw of the moon
in my heart and in my heels.
Felt the fire of whiskey

burning holes through the pain,
the lash of rumor shot from the mouths
of fools, and with whitened knuckles I have
drained anger and drawn blood.

I have seen brothers and sisters
seeking the balm of sleep. Sons
forever looking for fathers. And now
I see this feverish bed as a beach.

And as I watch my body slowly turn
against me, this conspiracy of cells
tunneling into my bone, I do not cry out.
For I feel the undertow of the night

pulling me close. I feel the hand of another
like ointment on my soul
and I see the light of the morning
in the tips of the stars.

(from the chapbook PRAYERS & LAUGHTER, 1990 - also published somewhere else but I can't remember where)

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