FEET OF CLAY

Photo by Franco Patricio, New Jersey, USA

FEET OF CLAY


Cool and overcast. The soft thump of a bird side-swiping a window. An ant walks with exquisite slowness up the side of the house.---Dave Bonta, The Morning Porch



Abuelo had a stock warning to the family cochero*
which was also his daily mantra: "slow down, hijo,
we are rushing." That was probably his pet peeve,
because he would walk  most times to town, white
gabardine suit and Barcelona cane, ramrod clean,
chin unnervingly up, eyes alertly espying greeters
from morning porches: Hola, primo, como esta?
Estoy bien, querida. Donde esta su esposo guapo?*
Conversation stalls, she casts her eyes down, exits
to a shuttered room, and waves him hasta la vista.*

Cool and overcast mornings like these prompt me
still to consider how quickly a sweet-bird of youth
perishes hearing whispers of furtive assignations,
quite like the fractured sparrow crashing through
the windowpane trying to snatch the bulky red ant
still exquisitely inching its way beyond the shards.
An Icarus to his Daedalus, I was enchanted by him
to adore all he stood for. I did not imagine myself
plummeting, even as he walked slowly away letting
my hand go when all I wanted was to hold on fast.



---Albert B. Casuga
04-17-12



* Abuelo,--Grandfather; Cochero--driver; hijo, son; Hola,  primo, como esta?--Hello, cousin, how are you? Estoy bien, querida. Donde esta su esposo guapo? ---I am well, dear girl. How is your handsome husband? Hasta la vista.---Till I see you again.

This is Poem 18 of my poem-a-day project for April (National Poetry Month) which was triggered by Dave Bonta's The Morning Porch post (epigraph).