"Hope" (partial) by Judy York
"Mind of a Child "
by Corinne Whitaker
"Angel Of The Cross
Being Engulfed In The Vapors
Of Meta-Mystical Disunion"
by Allen Toney
A Missing, The Longing
My dad he is missing
and I long for him
I think he left us
I know what it felt like
or was it maybe, just a divorce
Dad all those years you were gone.
I asked you, mother
what happened, what went wrong
You said, don't you bother
or I will dis-own you
What the _ _ _ _ does that do
To your sons and daughter
Secretly, I searched for you
While, mom you were none the wiser
Then you passed away, you were through
I was then like a high riser
moving with great fervor
looking for you, dad
I did not care if I was sad
or even if I was mad
As I wanted to see my real father
I had searched the internet
for all the families of our last name
It seemed like six or one half dozen or the other
I was not a gambling man, you bet
Hundreds of phone calls and dollars,
who could I blame
I even went to school to learn
How and what steps it would take
how will genealogy help me discern
I wanted to leave not a stone unturned
In class
my professor asked
why we were here
Well, I think I had a good answer
She said see me when this session is over
A glimmer of hope arose
then one day, just before thanksgiving
the professor rose
She said to the class, with no mis-giving
there is a student in here
who has been looking
for his father
for over twenty years
(It has been forty years) oh! brother!
The tears welled up in my eyes
with that lump...you feel inside
She said, Gary, I found your dad
I talked to him, boy, was he surprised!
I said to myself, HE WAS?...
You found him?... He's glad?
My watering eyes were now pouring
like rain drops streaming
down the window
It was like they knew just how to flow
All I wanted to do, right then, was go.
I suddenly imagined...I was a kid again
With my dad, taking me for a walk
holding my hand...having a talk
We did have that talk and the pain
dissipated...waned.
Written by Gary H.. May 27/1997
