Poetry
Ron Fields
A Lesson LearnedWhen I was eight I climbed a ladder to The top of the house, and stood upon the roof. My father, in his Sunday's best, stood on the Ground beneath me, smiling his best smile. He stood there with his arms open wide, Ready to catch a falling star. At his behest, I jumped from the roof, And he cleverly moved out of the way. I hit the ground so hard; I broke a rib. I was bruised and crying, he was towering Above me-the man I could never be. He knelt down beside me and spoke: "Don't ever trust anybody," he said. And those words echo today louder than Before, when I go to see him at the nursing home, Seeing his emphysema stricken body breathing through a tube. I smile at daddy, give him a wink, and say "Daddy, remember that time on the roof?" and He says "Yes I do," with a tear. "Don't ever trust anybody," I say with a smile, And turn off the respirator.
Ron Fields is a recent graduate of Middle Tennessee State
University. |