I Stayed With

I stayed with my father redemptively
just trying to be me, slight as I was,
slighted as he had been, eight languages 
held no words for what he knew, what he lived

I had no words, no tongue to access taste
that was bitter, new and old all at once,
I thrilled to the cadences of my will
for I knew as yet no better or worse

there is silk as strong as steel in the webs
that silences weave, not just about us
but reaching inward where we have not yet
found ourselves, secured there a foundation

good fortune gave us half a century - 
unspoken shreds, threads now bear these words from me