Your Great Grandfather

I took you to see your great-grandfather

Dressed now in diapers like you

Being fed by a spoon,

Soft food from the hand of a loving woman;

It reminds me (it’s too close) of your state,

Your precious being, your new body

And soul, here and now, rock a bye

Beside his old, four-score, worn

Out body, his tired soul, his broken heart,

I see you both together; you can’t help

But smile and laugh,

That’s all you know in this life:

Both of you,

Joy, freedom - he better than you, in truth

Now that he’s been through it all and approaches

The door, the end, the dark that leads

Only where - we don’t know:

The mysterious Other

Side, the end of the table,

The true head

Seat, the position we’re all fighting for

And, at the same time, desperately hoping to miss,

Avoiding, casting glances every which and other way,

He’s faced with it now, your great-

Grandfather, he’s faced with it now,

His greatness to be tested, his life to be settled

His face now, up and shining, looking through

You, neither one of you perceiving the other -

Only eyes, all eyes, deep,

You and I have been pierced,

And he doesn’t even know; his cares are with us no longer,

They shouldn’t be,

He, naked before God, all still, all radiant, all things uncovered,

This is a moment for us to shine too, reflecting his

Great reflection, the light, he earned, pulled down

From up there, given, the gift you have,

But only, right now, in relationship with him,

Only now, inasmuch as he is yours, only great

Both grand and great, in his light, basking

In the wake of a man who has lived

three attempts

The young man works his hands
      around the frame;
He doesn't yet know what shape his work
Will take or where it will take him

---------

The young man works his hands
Into a knot, his right clinched decisively
In an inter-locking near penetration
With his lift to knead and re-knead
Raw materials, the tools of his labor,
Earthen clay, a sweat-drenched shop towel,
     today's responsibilities and
He wrings and wrings and trusts his strength
To hold him together; it's all a young man
Of his disposition knows: Trust not lest you
Be trusted and more responsibility befall you,
This anthem resounds; it's the inner voice he
Never consciously turns on
Or off.  He is unaware of it and
his hands learn to clinch tighter still, as
Though to hold the sweat from his palms
Forever enclosed in the lightless crevasse betwixt
His press to eventually turn on itself
To must and rancor, but that must needs be
The least of his concerns

---------

The young man knots his hands,
Left into right, wringing them
White and bloodless;
Worry eats him and is full.

He knows his diminishing self; he is
Well acquainted  - at a loss to contend,
But he does, at least in some sense,
Remain willing to classify his efforts
As such - as contest - and he sees clearly
Himself the jester of the crowded coliseum
Awaiting eminent annihilation
Through the teeth of a starved lion.

Yes, his worry is an anxious and
Hungry lion - before whose presence
He trembles with a fright that is, itself,
Formidable and an enigma beyond his
Ever tightened gripping,
Changing, forever the complexion
Of his poor and bare-laden hands

Nap

Just now you went to sleep

In the dark room your mom

Made yours yesterday, with the noise-box

Feigning rain, but you don’t know

The difference; you were supine, reclined,

I was holding you still but with intentional motion

Cross-wise through my chest, your head

Facing east, I rubbed your right temple, felt

Your silky hairs on the tips of my work worn

Fingers.  I was afraid they might wake you.

I didn’t know whether the peaceful calm

On your face, the ease at the edges

Of your lips would last if, when I stood to lay

You down, the slight breeze reckoned

By our mutual lifting would cause you stir,

But it did not, rather, you, stately still, let me

Land you gently to the sheet - I, a farmer

Planting ancient heirlooms, a chef

Topping the main course: with the gentlest ease,

The most attentive care, and without breaking

The rhythm of my own inward song