Chewat

Ask him and he’ll tell you

he grew so old by being

wary of ghosts and the tricks

they will play to make us sick.

When he was young,

the family story goes, he

shot a man and escaped

two provinces over where

he hid out and eventually

had a large family including

my wife’s father.

Now in his 104^th year, he still

takes care of himself save for

food.  He sharpens his tools,

makes baskets and even mends

his own clothes.

Yesterday, I stood barely a yard

away from him watching him

ever so slowly, stitch up a tear

over a breast pocket. His hearing

and eye sight are so poor, he was

unaware of my presence, and as I

escaped, and walked  away

I felt as if I was one of his ghosts

 – as if the spirit tables somehow  

had been turned and we had gone

through the looking glass.  I felt

this strange way until I made

the corner of my own house, and

he started singing behind me,

singing for no reason at all.

FG  5/19/2014