butterfly weed

 

 

Lullaby for My Father, May 12, 2005

 

        Thomas Clayton Keener, 7/24/26 - 5/16/05

          

 

Let that part of you that I will carry

rest on me like wings, like pollen

on the leaves of flowers it engendered.

Time is a loop, you know:  On this side

I’m your daughter.  Over there

you are my little son, reaching up

to catch a bird taking flight—

the same bird I was, lifting off

from home.  Never mind this grief.  It’s just

baptism, the waterfall between the veils,

the bath we rise from shining and newborn.

Rest on me then like light,

like shine on the baby’s face.

 

 

 

 

in Chautauqua (UNC-Wilmington)