I see him from the kitchen window
As I pour myself a cup of coffee
He walks back and forth across the yard
Picking something up here,
Laying down an old foam mat there
The jump rope’s rhythm as it hits the ground--
Whack whack whack--
Each rotation measured out precisely
The sound echoes through our open doors and windows
After an afternoon spent playing Tetris
He forgoes his non-alcoholic beverage
To begin a new exercise routine
But as I watch him twirling a rope,
Caught in a window of concentration,
I know just as well as he does
That this will not last
Transported back to his youth
By the 80’s music on the speakers
My father takes advantage of the warm night
To try and get a handle on his past
I know he often thinks of years ago
When different decisions could have changed
Today
Of the time he spent in high school
As a bully
Of the things he’s been given by God
I also know he dreams of the future
All of the untapped potential in tomorrow
Of the possibilities residing within an idea
But there are times, like tonight,
Where I see him in the present
In stasis between then and not yet
He is suspended in the now
Trying to connect what’s behind
With what’s ahead
The two ends of the rope he holds,
Where he’s been and where he’s going,
Travel on to the center of the arc
And touch in the middle
Where the sound of their meeting
Marks the moment in which we stand
Irrevocably thrust together
In the briefest space of eternity
