Pre-Stroke Father

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Left him today, 82 year old man
napping like a withered cat, and
the moment I was gone,
I was attacked by my brain,
friend and foe of retrospection;
attacker made of pure memory.


I remember when his eyes
were searing.
I remember when his eyes could laugh.

I remember when his hands
could grasp.

I remember when his speech
could shake you.

I remember when his tongue
obeyed him.

I remember when he walked
like a wild wind.
His feet were 10 inch tornadoes.

I remember when his mind soared like an arrow.

I remember when his friends were countless as fish. They swam around him. They were glorious satellites.
I remember when they sought him out.

I remember when he thought he could sing like Billy Eckstein.

I remember when he thought his jokes killed the dullest face, relaxed the tightest chest.

I remember when his presense
made the house and the life
in the house stand still like pillars of salt,
like the foolish wife of Lot.

I remember when everyone listened to him.
I remember when he could hold a senator's attention.

I remember when his ideas stood like soldiers.

I remember when he made the bills disappear.

I remember when, shirtless, he made tall grass disappear.
I remember his fingers making Azaleas grow.

I remember the kingly attire, the ties, the ties.

I remember the Cadillac rides to new cities.

I remember the wealth in his pocket, I remember
him sharing it.

I remember him conquering the world.
I remember when I wanted to conquer him.
I remember when I desired to thwart him.
I remember the day I no longer wanted to;
the day we became allies against the actual evils.

I will remember these things about you till the world is blue dust,
till memory itself is a fairy tale,
till his bones and mine are no longer dutiful.


© Lamont Palmer

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