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| Isaac Benjamin Heinemann ca 1960 in baseball uniform The Midland Braves, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) |
Hero
Worship (Stroke #11)
How hard it is to remember what was
When I a small child and you a grown-up
hero:
Daily reality has me grasping at straws
Of old images I stoop and pick up.
The cheering of a scattered crowd
Rising to their feet at the hard-hitting
sound:
You struck the ball right to the moon
With bases loaded and two runs to win.
There you were, on the next day, boldly
splashed
Across the front page of the Bulawayo
Chronicle:
High above the ground, flying into home
base,
White uniform unsoiled and a pompadour of
debonair dark hair.
Somewhere in the years gone past
I’ve lost both you and that crackling paper
icon:
All I have left is a sad Doppelgรคnger,
A grey-haired child who reminds me of you.
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| My Dad & I. |
Will
I Remember? (Stroke #20)
Will I remember, when you have gone,
Entirely gone away,
The shape of your hands
With their strong blunt fingers?
Your gold wedding band scratched and worn
On the same hand that has a shortened
forefinger,
The tip sliced off when, long before I was
born,
You swerved to avoid — A cow? A child? —
And your motorbike went one way and you
another.
The colour of your eyes is already faded,
Except when you wear
Your favourite blue-checked shirt from
Woolworths:
Then they are the movie-star eyes of my
youth.
I’m used to your thin grey hair,
Instead of your shiny black kuif,
And your nose — Ouma’s nose! My nose! —
Has never changed.
You’ve shrunk.
Now I must bend down to kiss you,
Where once you threw me high in the air,
And I knew you were a god come down to
earth,
More handsome than any father has a right
to be.
When I weep for all I have lost already:
Your sage advice, your mischief,
The safety of your strength,
I ask myself:
When you have gone, entirely gone away
Into the silence of the great beyond,
Will I remember even this?
Kuif =
Greased back fringe; an Elvis Presley pompadour hairstyle
Ouma =
Grandmother
Finis
(Stroke #25)
13h35
26.02.2012.
Cold numbers that mean the end.
How peaceful you look there,
At rest in the light of the full moon.
Safe and free and calm.
Your face once again the face of Love.
My beloved father died yesterday at 13h35
after a long illness, bravely borne.
Kind, strong and; loving, he was a gentle giant of a man.
We love you, Dad, and thank you for the gift of your life.
Please note: as part of mourning my Dad,
I will be off all social media sites until April 2012.
Any social media commitments made prior
to my Dad's passing will be met.
If you wish to contact me urgently,
please email me via the "contact me" page.
Please note: as part of mourning my Dad,
I will be off all social media sites until April 2012.
Any social media commitments made prior
to my Dad's passing will be met.
If you wish to contact me urgently,
please email me via the "contact me" page.
