Bryan R. Monte
Last Memory of My Father
On your way out
your message was very clear
though I never heard a word
three thousand kilometres away.
Pain gripped my arms, my chest,
shot down my legs and feet,
then into the floor, my body, a bell
ringing to the centre of the earth.
The phone call from home
was no surprise, already packed,
I told everyone at work
I’d be gone for a week.