My father’s ghost each night I saw
reflected on the tv screen, passing back
of actors with a meaningful look,
like a soap star.
‘It was Society, your uncle,
killed me.’ he said. ‘It was not!’, I said.
‘Would you make presumptions on my age,
even in death?’ he said.
It’s true, I did.
‘If it was that black sheep of the family
cousin Economics,
I’d expect it, or grandfather Politics,
well, without question. But Society…
he’s too scatty. He never could tell
one day from another.’ ‘Precisely!
My ordered life, plotted against!
I worked hard for that little state
of order and calm.’
‘We disinherited the Medical Profession
on your behalf!’ I said, ‘The doctor
was negligent.’ ‘You were wrong.’ he said,
‘Society killed me!’
What a family,
I thought, I would not trust one
with a teaspoon never mind
the keys of the kingdom!
And then when Conventional Romance
looked my way, well, it was
Wayward Romance, her sister
that I was after. ‘You must do your duty!’
my father said, and then he died.
So I did.
michael9murray 