Clippings

I received a gift in the mail today Twas an old tattered box, mailed from mother It was my Dad's wallet and pocket knife The wallet contained clippings and photos Clippings from local Chicago papers They reported a man's untimely death The old rusted knife was from his pocket Used for cleaning the nails of hard worked hands I have faded memories of him now He worked in the stone quarries of Chitown The photos were of my sister and me School pictures of us both, when we were young I have thought of the day my father fell Over the years, on many sleepless nights What was he thinking on the long way down Did he know this was the end of his life Was he thinking of sis and me just then Did he wonder what would become of Mom I remember one of the clippings well I saw many like it neatly sissored out They blew around the windy school yard grounds My schoolmates had clipped them for show and tell After the funeral, during recess I found them there, discarded in the dirt. On that day, returning from school for lunch We found our Mother crying on the phone Our world changed forever when that knife fell I placed the items in my music room They sit in the corner of my mind's eye Tokens of what might have been, long ago Author notes: "I learned of my Father's death one fine fall day, when I returned home from school for lunch. My mother was on the phone crying. Later, after my father's funeral, I returned to school to find clippings blowing around on the school grounds. They were all about my father. The students had cut them out for show and tell, and later discarded them on the school grounds."