I did not go to my father's funeral.2 August 95
I was too far away too poor too selfish
A million years ago my father told me
He wished he could capture my baby laughter
In a glass bubble. Today, I keep
His poetry there.I am the honorable Number One daughter
Of the house of poets and carpenters
Merchants and lawgivers. I count, he said.
I will rule his house of sunshine,
Wish wise blessing and build things
Out of things.For the love of me, he fashioned my wings
But gave me no flight plans --
Just a reminder not to fly too close
To the sun, tempt steel trees
Or lose the spectra of rainbows.I did not go to my father's funeral.
For the love of him, I retell
The stories of Asgard and the ring
Of the Nibelungs. I write verses
Between the phase changes of water
And the transmutations of atoms.I am the honorable Number One daughter
Of the house of poets
And I rule.
from "Rain Shadows" by Zita Maria Evensen,
Ysilakan Press, 1995.