Gumby

For my dad, who just turned 83. Happy Birthday Dad!

Pine Tree Lucidity


Dad says his favorite dream place
is beneath his old pine tree.
While leaning back against the bark,
he hears wind symphonies.

I watch him from the window-
his eyes closed, his face serene.
His life-worn shoulders rounded,
rough hands resting near his knees.

There's a secret in his stillness,
a something, I can't see;
I know my Dad is somewhere else,
not underneath this tree.

He's off in his own dreamland
wherever that may be.

And I fear this spot I stand on
while I watch him fly away,
is going to be my pine tree
on a none too distant day.

Where I'll sit and close my eyes,
strive to keep my face serene
and see the one no longer there-

from this,
my place to dream.