Padre Trail
I
hadn’t heard from my father in over thirty years.
Over
thirty years ago he went away & never came back.
But
now he was old, soon he would die, be forever
out of reach, no
more time to be too proud to try.
I
wrote him a letter in October to ask for his blessings.
It
was after twelve one night the next spring he called.
He
said he’d never forgotten me.
He
told me we’re together now & I’ll never again let you go.
The
plan was to arrive on Friday, go to temple.
Saturday
to visit the cemetery so his parents could
see us together.
Sunday,
it turned out, was Father’s Day.
I
brought a card that said––Sometimes the words may be
hard but the love
is always there.
Flying
in over Balboa Park, I saw homeless men & boys
sleeping on their
cardboard beds.
All
around me, people were embracing one another.
I
stood in the waiting area a long while, and then
the tears rolled
down my face.
San
Diego
19-21
June 1992
[Published in Grasslands.
© 1994 by Jim
Cohn.]
