Father Daughter Dance

A thousand poison glimpses
Hundreds of thousands in deed
Can form malignant meditations
Of a little innocent scene

Something so utterly human
Memories of a father-daughter dance
I lived for that banquet for months
Come on memory, take a chance

A thousand clouds of rain
Can encircle our tiny camp
Flash out our clumsy waltz
Like a pack of wolves in heat

Where philosophers and therapists
Choreograph the dawn
With sequences of tears and fog
A freakish humilation

It was spring, about this time
A scented breeze, a synoptic communion
My toes on the wet grass, trying not to stain my dress--
Memory's euphoric metrics

I hear him calling
Time is here at last
Smiling widely
"Are we ready?"
Eyes proud and full of love
To witness me and be impressed....