When a daughter marries
a distant place
his father will be sad
knowing that
distance can always stab
him anytime
as years go by the bleeding
continues
the daughter can forget all
these with a child to bear
and years can add some padded
memories that make the distance
more bitter
the father goes to the kitchen
for comfort as he slices with his
sharp knife some onions
tears fall down and in those years
that he is alone
the floors where he stands are
rusting with all the crystals of
salt
the news is heard that the father
one day goes out of the house and
runs naked in his farm of cabbages
there, he uproots what he plants
there, he curses the rice paddies
and pours his misgiving to the
scarecrows
one day the daughter comes back
bringing her three daughters home
what surprises her are the changes
which she cannot believe: the
stair has only one tooth left
the floors of the living room melt
the roof is nested with black crows
the bed has a boa for a sleeper
and in the kitchen there she finds
her father who is still slicing
all the rotten tomatoes constantly
for all the years
the daughter embraces his father
and shows her three daughters but
then the father has turned into
a sculpture of stone.
RIC S. BASTASA
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-story-about-a-daughter-who-married-distance/
