I See Him
I see him
in the self-portrait
I make
on the road to Vourkari:
his pure manliness,
his handsomeness,
fathered
into my face:
eyes, nose and brow
in deep shadow
under a brim
of coconut straw --
a touch like the summer hat
he used to wear
with a madras band;
mine unbanded.
Half my expression
in shadow, the other --
mouth, chin and his jaw,
our jaw,
in high sun;
turned at a slight right
and upward angle
to the camera:
a portrait
in son and shade
of father.
Colin Goedecke
On the road to Vourkari, Kea, Greece
August 2012