A Fox Appears

Bernardo Wade

prayer: from precari “to ask, beg, entreat”

Mid-cereal bite &
I turn to the lawn

& find you—
flame sprout

from spring’s edge.
In your eyes

the morning bows
to a moment

bent on
a stillness

only the mocking
-bird’s wary

music laments.
My grandmother,

who once said
her son,

fresh from prison,
wouldn’t need

what spoiled him,
her hand

holding his
from death.

As a child
each morning,

eyes closed,
on his knees,

my father listened
as he was told;

for isn’t prayer
just a foolish wish

for gentleness.
Yet—in your eyes,

sizing up
this bird’s nest,

I think of him,
now gray,

bent down,
kissing his gold

medallion, he asks
for her

like she never left.