A Father's Mantle

by Daniel Hall Kleinmeier
(Freeport, N.Y.)

There's a mirror in the mantle, in the dust and the mold
It hangs like a poem, with a story to be told

Now it's pitted and boned, and reflects only cracks
By a candle that flickers, dripping tears full of wax

A story of neglect, like some hinge full of rust
Of words never written, of a fathers trust

Gone in those books, with a poet on the spine
Sleep knights full of armor, and thrones masculine

This mirror in the mantle, with reflections now dim
Once looked over a family and father within

Now it's forgotte , and hangs on the wall
To beam a reflection that covers us all

It's pitted and boned , like a scroll by the sea
And hangs like the Savior , still looking for me