Until my father-in-law died that summer in Tucson, Arizona
He seemed to sleep
in his suit and tie,
expressionless,
the color of death freezing
his shrunken features,
almost youthful in his eighties
as if an artist’s pencil
performed a final facelift,
inverting lines
for a last farewell.
I knelt on the velvet
rest in prayer.
thinking of the fig tree
we once planted together,
of how he always
saved the juiciest fig
for me: “Here,” he’d say
“this one’s from your tree…
see how well I care for it?”
∞ ∞
I felt a pang in my chest,
leapt years and years back
to a January morning: a young
cialis soft uk This is a little bit dangerous, not only because they are naturally defensive of their child, but also these parents are practiced at trying to make their child’s life easier. Most people have surrendered to the phone as a sort of appendage and carry cheapest cialis one with them all the time. One small change in viagra on line uk the way you respond to that feeling is your choice. Kamagra jelly Australia is the most preferred medicine to viagra ordination overcome the critical condition and live a healthy sexual life. child, taken away for the day,
only to return to a house
filled with absence,
where all had forgotten
how to smile.
I was never told what had
happened that day,
in Heliopolis. “Your father
is in the hospital,” they said.
I awaited your return,
week after week,
unable to understand
the silent procession,
charcoaled silhouettes
shading spaces
once forbidden to
our clumsy hands,
beveled doors
now wide-open,
black skirts hiding pink
damask silk, flowing
over gilded Louis XVI
chairs and Bergères
like a flock of Egyptian
ravens, threatening
my caged love-birds
placed at the balcony edge