I was in a place of Peace and Dreams
I was on a cliff; my Stepfather was there,
Behind me was a rolling hill and nothing more
It looked to have been cut out of the earth like a piece of pie.
I moved to the edge to look down and regretted it.
“It’s a long way down.” I said.
Smiling, he took another drag from his Pall Mall.
“Yeah,but I think they missed the memo.”
“What memo is that?”
Flicking his butt, he rocked side to side and winked.
“…where we get to sing.”
He hummed Amazing Grace
Like pebbles in a can, rough but clear.
“I guess that settles that.” He said
Then jumped in the void like it was his.
Standing stunned, missing the anticipated,
I could hear him singing, fading away.
“How sweet the sound…” Fainter.
He only knew the first verse.
I stood hopelessly frozen.
I could not jump; worse, I was looking
Staring into the void, trying to see something
Familiar and warm; for darkness is cold.
I see nothing; hear nothing, yet want nothing
I’m here about to jump.
For No reason except to hear the singing a bit longer,
I move even closer to the edge,
But I fail to commit standing.
I feel hollow and lost; abandoned.
I mumble to insure myself I can speak.
I think of the Man who went before me
How he was the only Father I knew for years,
How he disappointed, and fulfilled.
I remember him hugging me with “It’s all right…”
I remember the look of playfulness
In the Hospital before he passed.
I awoke with “Great is thy faithfulness…” in my head
And thought of Sailors and Ships at Sea
I wondered if the precipice in Space
Was because of my fear of heights
Or just Death trying to give me a whisper
“It is not time yet…”
Not too bad to be singing though.