A Vigil to Honor my Father

^{A Vigil to Honor My Father}

^{The Greening Side of Things}

^{When I think of you}

^{it is always the deepest color of green}

^{Not the green that the sun kisses}

^{to make it glow with light}

^{The green on the underside of the leaf}

^{where the spider dwells}

^{The dark under the log}

^{where the salamander sleeps}

^{The green on the inside of a tree}

^{where only the elvin ones can see}

^{Once, once I told you}

^{you went wrong}

^{when you should have gone right}

^{You are a poet like my mother}

^{not an outlaw for a Pa}

^{You were a mystic gone wrong}

^{and finally you took the wrong turn}

^{for the l last time}

^{What were you feeling}

^{in those last moments?
I hope it was a burst of joy}

^{the one you always left this world to seek}

^{I hope you saw the colored lights}

^{the ancients send out as beacons to the lost}

^{But then perhaps you never lost your way}

^{instead honored your broken}

^{and beautiful greening way.}

^{I think of you often,}

^{with neither anger or regret}

^{and most days}

^{I just wish I could have shown you}

^{that I see the magic too}

^{You weren’t the one who showed me}

<sup>but I always knew you saw it too

One day you came to my house</sup>

^{for breakfast unannounced
I had prepared a quiche and as you}

^{sat to eat in silence – you said}

^{This is what I really really needed}

^{and I just didn’t know it.}

<sup>Thank you.

I hoped you would see in me</sup>

^{all you hoped I would become}

^{but you never said}

^{You just told me you prayed for me}

^{and I also – pray for you.}

^{I would like to think on you as ancestor}

^{but when I reach in the spaces between}

^{it is only the greening I see}

^{not the identity that was you}

^{You have returned to the soil}

^{and I will honor you here in green dirt}

^{with the passing of each season.}

^{Rest well father of the greening}