The Good Man

On Love Gained, Love Lost and Love That Never Dies

I still see him, almost every day
One warm morning, the sun just rising
A redbird calls outside my window
And I hear him whistle

The way he did another morning
Just to show me he knew
The song of the redbird, too.
And then he’d smiled.

And when I go to the river I see him
Sitting on the edge of the boulder
That separates land from the shore
And makes it an island in the river.

“I can’t jump that far,” he’d said
“And neither can you.”
Then he’d laughed
Because I’d tried, anyway.

And he was right, I couldn’t
Jump that far either.
I landed in the water, then walked
Through the small rivulet of water

And onto the island in wet shoes.
We hear the hidden laughter
Of children, at the far end
Of the island, and he smiles.