Poem of the Day: Father Son and Holy Ghost

1 / 15 / 2015

Poem of the Day: Father Son and Holy Ghost BY AUDRE LORDE I have not ever seen my father's grave. Not that his judgment eyes have been forgotten nor his great hands' print on our evening doorknobs             one half turn each night             and he would come             drabbled with the world's business                massive and silent             as the whole day's wish                ready to redefine             each of our shapes but now the evening doorknobs    wait    and do not recognize us    as we pass. Each week a different woman    regular as his one quick glass each evening pulls up the grass his stillness grows    calling it weed. Each week    a different woman    has my mother's face and he who time has    changeless must be amazed who knew and loved but one. My father died in silence    loving creation and well-defined response    he lived    still judgments    on familiar things and died    knowing a January 15th that year me. Lest I go into dust I have not ever seen my father's grave. Audre Lorde, "Father Son and Holy Ghost" from Collected Poems of Audre Lorde. Copyright © 1997 by The Audre Lorde Estate. Reprinted with the permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. This selection may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. Source: Collected Poems of Audre Lorde (W. W. Norton and Company Inc., 1997) AUDRE LORDE Biography  More poems by this author