Paternal Wisdom
“the Ionian sea is haunted by an error of love”
~ Fugitive Pieces, Anne Michaels
A father leads his son, informs him of
The purpose of a storm and clearer skies,
And teaches what to hate and harshly love
As in revenge the color of the eyes
Of murdered tyrants. When the son looks hard
At etched paternal teaching, wisdom may
Not glisten as his path. Without regard
To what experience and prudence say,
The younger man may choose to try bright wings
To soar to what he thinks are bornite goals.
The heat of searing, sacred sentence stings
Him. Common sense’s chariot patrols
Stupidity and strikes it down. Divine
Wrath drowns it in impatience dark as wine.
December 21, 2013; rewritten January 8, 2017