Father, you must have been, Like now -- On a tiny raft while the big ship went down. You had taken our mother aboard While the decks were still awash. Then, for a little time, it must have seemed almost like heaven -- Though you've never said that In words. Nor has she but I saw it In both your eyes when you thought We were not watching. Heaven, then. Even on the dark and shoreless waters. Other rafts went down. Around you cries Went up -- agonies -- Sharks clouding and clotting in the sea -- Heaven. Then our mother began Presenting us to you: One, every couple of years, Was conjured out of the gypsy tent of her black skirts. And you fed us: Fishing all night in the hungry waters, Giving your clothing to warm us, And you naked, shivering in the cold, enduring -- Why didn't you drown us like a litter of sick cats? But . . . didn't. You gave your freedom for our mother's fulfillment. And you gave us All the lost honey of a young man's years -- Steering through the vicious seas of those bitter times . . . Ah . . . dearest father, dear Helmsman! Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHRISTMAS BELLS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW TO SLEEP, WHEN SICK OF A FEVER by PHILIP AYRES THE WIFE'S TREASURE by SABINE BARING-GOULD SONNET by ETIENNE DE LA BOETIE CHILD ELSIE by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE THE DRYAD by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: A CHAIN TO WEAR by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |