In memory of my father; 5 years later

Five years ago today, on the Feast of the Holy Cross, my father died. Here is a photo of him in 2002 doing what he loved most—metal detecting. He is triumphantly holding an 1892 silver dollar he had just found. I sure do miss him, and is absence in my life is an ache that just does not seem to end. Here also is a poem from my book, That Word (2014), which hopefully says in a better way anything I could say otherwise:

Commendation

Take from him

whatever stains

even Communion

and devotion

can’t undo.

And let him

rise up—

if not today

one day soon—

from the ashes

we placed

so carefully into

the dark recess

of the earth

and left there

where the rain’s soaking

and the snow’s run-off

and the heat of high noon

cannot reach him

anymore.

Let him rise up

from here

more beautiful

than he is

in those dreams

from which I myself

rise and stumble

toward a

slightly overcast

dawn.

From That Word

Copyright © 2014 published by North Star Press