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."
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