written after Henry Jopek [my father] passed away on March 31, 2015
Shed the black cloths of mourning for white lilies, gladiolas, tulips, hyacinth.
A private grieving finally alone in the House. Thank God. Birds sleeping in the rain
in barren trees of tiniest buds will eventually sprout magnolia and pear blossoms,
ladders of cathedral bells. No more PANIC of not being able to BREATHE properly.
The lungs washed clean by rain. The cloths of being unimaginable
it has been said so much // so little–just rain awash and human weeping
for the lost waiting rooms–for the man who shrank
into a fracture of star.