TWO OF MY FATHER'S POEMS

(A man sorely missed, my father!)

It seems to me

There must be sacredness in this world

Or maybe hovering just outside it -

I don't want to define it

I want to expand it.

It's hidden but drops clues to itself -

No, not hidden but perceptible only afterwards

A favorite coat found long afterward

In the recesses of an unused closet;

Someone you know who's just died;

A plain man when, for an evening,

He gets to put on a tuxedo;

The granddaughter who once wouldn't rest

Till she sat next to you;

The neighborhood you revisit after forty years;

The earth when you're preparing to leave it;

Yourself, maybe, once you're gone.

God the Executive

Doesn't tell everything He knows

Gets information from you He's already heard elsewhere

Gives broad instructions and leaves it to you to figure out what He meant

Makes each subordinate think He's keeping an eye on him

Gives hints to each that he's His favorite.