Sharing a Walk

I drove up to spend time

With you

The morning began with your footsteps

Appearing in my room

‘You awake?’

I said quietly

‘Yes’

Although I’d only laid down twenty minutes earlier

~

This day was yours …

I drove to go fishing with my dad

A hot summer’s day

You were going to show me the ropes

I had no idea

I would discover you on that journey

Traveling through Morley Heights

You talked of neighbors

Childhood stories

And suddenly I was with you

Growing up

~

We drove for miles looking for bait

Nothing open

We were left to conversation

More stories of the people that knew you

The life that existed

Long before I had become a notion

When your time was spent

Being … just you

A quiet agenda

Was your recognition like my own?

~

We found the river

The sun was beating down upon your

Eighty years

I crossed a few rocks with you

Left you by a pool and walked

Upstream

Thinking I hope he catches something

Imagining myself to be the master

Navigating rocks and crevices

Coming up empty

~

Time went by

And I realized my dad was …

Maybe tired by now

Father’s day,

And we’re fishing.

Well I am I thought

But Dad might be just sitting on a rock

Waiting for me, getting bored – anxious

I returned to where I left you

And there was an empty space

I wondered

How confused is my moment?

I felt mortified that I’d left you

Alone.

~

Over the crest of jagged rocks you smiled

Holding a stringer with a day’s limit

I realized deeply settled

My self-driven exploits

Hoping to be recognized

I had missed your mastery

I smiled knowing I was now safe

And for a moment everything else

Melted away …

~

All memory of loss; silent anxiety had left me

I was with my Father; the good neighbor, fishing with Dad