On Prodigal Bay
BBroken in half
the battered moon
hung dejected in the gloom
in the gloom of Prodigal Bay
the ending of a vital day.
The day I found my Father's son
the Golden Boy,the only one
to ever make my father smile
a child of beauty,without guile
He rocked a crockeyed rocking chair
as if to rock away from there
In his hand,a living thing,a fishing pole,
could almost sing
as he sailed the light line high
between the river and the sky
He never turned his eyes to mine
just rocked and fished his fishing line
I told him of our father's plight,
I bade him come with me tonight
to gaze a final time and share
one moment just to say," I care."
The line zinged out to kiss the tide
across the river's other side
the moonlight sparked the flying tears
along the line,that spanned the years
and we were back there in the past
watching brother at the mast
smiling as he sailed along
singing some old sailor's song
laughing as our mother danced
on the deck,but then she chanced
to catch her ankle in a loop
a rope piled there upon the sloop
she screamed a scream that echoes yet
and now my brother can't forget
he blamed himself for her demise
and could not bear our father's eyes
for he was charged with keeping straight
and neat the deck and now self hate
had kept him here on Prodigal Bay
until our father's dying day
I knelt beside his crumpled form
I touched his hand so tired and worn
He turned and handed me the line
"Your turn to make the catch this time."
The eddies spiraled without end
the way our mother's love had been
I watched the bobber rise and fall
I tried to comprehend it all
and then the snap!,the pop of line
the slack was gone,the fish was mine!
I yelped and staggered to my feet
my brother jumped out of his seat
and caught his ankle in the line
I couldn't reach for him in time
He disappeared beneath the creek
my sight grew dim,my legs grew weak
I must have swooned there on the dock
the deja vu,the pain and shock
well anyway my job was done,
I found my father's favorite son!
Copyright © Johnette Loefgren | Year Posted 2006
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