Dad
I could live forever
And never forget this:
The traitor memory plants its echoes
In the ears of a dichotomous time.
When I can’t see you, I can only remember
All the years when your voice
Could not reach a pitch below my pain.
The garage door spoke daggers
When you came home each day;
And your misunderstanding
Was the slam of the door
As you tried again and failed to enter my mind’s house
Where only the slam of other hearts sounded.
And now, when I see you,
Memory forgets itself
In the silver that streaks the brown hair of your youth
And the cracks in your smile
That knives of sun and pain have etched.
We must live forever now;
In growing old
Our present must be tempered in remembrance.
And if I never cease to see you,
I can make peace
And not forgive.
©2000 Elizabeth Hebert
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