Just before dawn
a shadow makes tracks
in the dew lit grass.
Later, a whisper
and a scent follow
the forsaken imprints
Not a leaf stirs,
but if I watch closely,
blades of grass ease upright,
a loam granule
is released to airs
staggering under stars,
and the whisper, vague,
is familiar, perhaps stripped
from gists of old conversations.
Years ago
at a Red Sox game I
became separated from my father.
All the goblins
of my young creation hung over
my hysteria, poked at my terror.
When he found me,
pawed, frayed, diminished,
he said he’d never leave me again.
This soft forging
in the night grass
is a kept word, a vow.