and the laundry, piled upin crevices and corridors as though to say,“You can hide me, but you cannot do without me.”Toys underfoot and books scattered wideamongst other toddler treasures:a measuring cup, a rooster,a brochure considered la mode beforesome other fancy flitted through the growing mind.Some things are permanent, likedishes, some new –an Amen! after grace.UnsettledContinue reading “The dishes you will always have with you”
Tag Archives: fatherhood
Suscipe
Nighttime cradles you in my arms but I am uncradled, and what strength I have to cradle with is finite and growing finer yet, my widow’s mite at the temple gate, libation pouring out. Daytime is an offering too, a departure yet a giving, an act of will to defeat the Will, a living sacrificeContinue reading “Suscipe”
Learning Father (II): For Eli
…it was I who taught Ephraim to walk… (Hosea 11:3) In truth, I teach this child very little. So much is sheer instinct, determination, what HR would call “get up and go”. But there’s little of HR, more of the deep-sea diver or the alchemist at his art, to how this small enthusiast takes toContinue reading “Learning Father (II): For Eli”
Easter Sunday
Unintentionally, I keep vigil the night before while my son, restless for the dawn, unsettled by the changing of the clocks, bids me stay awake and pray. Some sleep gained before sunrise, yet when the lights comes it feels somehow the natural outworking of the night, for I’ve walked through all its stations, met itsContinue reading “Easter Sunday”
Learning Father
History has few exemplars to be proud of. The Greeks did well with Priam, at least, willing to face “iron-hearted, man-slaying Achilles” for the sake of a son. My own culture’s replete with absent men, “bronze Anzacs” taught from birth not to cry. The Biblical witness, too, leaves something to be desired: most too busyContinue reading “Learning Father”
The Consolations of Writing 