\n<\/p>\n
They are too big now, resting, as they do, at the end of too-thin arms.
At first, the thumb rubs across my knuckles. The grasp firm.
Then, as the too-fast breaths come, there is just the tenderest swell and ease of fingers\u2014unseen but felt. Loose but warm.
Then, a coolness, a stillness. And the nails, shaped as mine, a cerulean blue. Pale as shadows in a cloudy sea.<\/p>\n
I walk in the gardens of my childhood.
Gossamer shadows pace the woods; husky voices echo in the bluejay\u2019s rusty-swing call.
Long gone, not gone.<\/p>\n
He holds out only his thumbs for me to grasp, to be lifted up and swung.
So proud of his strength, we were.
Long gone, not gone.<\/p>\n
As the sun declines, I let my small self free fall inside of me, to be caught and cradled by my grown self.
Long gone, not gone.<\/p>\n
Not a smile, or a sob, but the stair on which we sat to tie our soon-mudded boots. The counter, noisy with past groceries, and that corner table where we leant and laid our too-hot teas, only to find them grown cold; forgotten with chatter.<\/p>\n
Why does the inanimate call forth such tears?<\/p>\n
Then, life reaches for us with its gently insistent tendrils. The waggling leaves beckon in a low breeze, and the joyful tangle of clouds is undiminished, even as they fray.<\/p>\n
And our small selves are free to wander forth again. Unsheltered. Invulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u00abRELATED READ\u00bb<\/strong> POEMS BY JOHN GREY: At the Uffizi, Why I Cannot Love You and more\u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n image: Michelle_Raponi<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My Father\u2019s Hands They are too big now, resting, as they do, at the end of too-thin arms.At first, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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