July Selection #2

( Note: in the following poem, please imagine the 4th, 5th, and 6th stanzas are indented, as well as italicized. )


July Selection #2


Father, Son, Ridge


The first time that I ever saw -
looking down upon everything,
from the top of a ridge,
totally alone –

as, I spent many times on top of the ridge
with many other people
but being on top alone was different
and I could see people waving up, small

they saw me too
they felt my smile
they felt how open my heart was.
My joy, that I felt at that moment,
still remains
on that mountain top.

I watched you go and worried about you
my eyes could follow you partway
up that ridge
then you went behind a rocky tower
I couldn’t see you anymore.
I sat and waited for you a long time.
I waited under a screen of white bark pine
and I listened to myself
I listened to my fear.
I thought: what he’s doing, is exactly
what I would do, when I was his age –
any yet – I’m so worried.
And I saw clearly that my worry was my problem.
It wasn’t yours.
You were doing exactly what you needed to do.

I made the descent down to the lake to wait for you,
and sooner, much sooner than I expected,
I looked up and saw you on that peak.
I saw you holding your arms out to the side

like wings
like you were feeling that you were flying.
And I thought, “I know that feeling.”


Amos Clifford