Frank T. Clark

/Home /Personal /Compositions /Images

Images

(Images of my father, family, me, and my Father.)

A poem about my childhood written in 1997 while attending Al-Anon. This is not suitable to be read by the crude and insensitive.


The corner bar, the cigarette pack,
The mother and children alone, the sad little face,
A high church steeple.

The brown bottle, the white cigarette,
The broken family, the quivering little lips,
The quiet church pews.

The neon lights, the flare of a match,
The huddled family, the glistening little eyes,
A stained glass window.

The stumbling steps, the yellow fingers,
The clenched fists, the little black eye,
A head bowed in prayer.

The telltale breath, the cloud of smoke,
The shame, the tear-stained little cheek,
The uplifted cross.

The drunken stupor, the yellow teeth,
Abandonment, the lost little boy,
The nail-scarred hands.

Alcohol, nicotine,
Separation, divorce, the broken little heart,
A still small voice.

Diseased liver, diseased lung, hospital bed;
A coffin and the graveyard, he is dead.

Brown earth, green grass, blue sky;
White clouds, yellow sun, He is alive.


1997-10-04