the moment i pulled the knife from its sheath
i understood something.
i looked down and saw the electrical tape
with the black end neatly folded back for use the next time;
i understood my father's knife hadn't been out in the open for twenty years.
without a thought i took it from its shell to see the blade.
i looked at the tape.
i saw his hand on it after one job making it easier for the next one.
looking back at the knife it was somehow altered even after i placed it back in its cradle. too late, i considered the last time it was used. how did he fillet the unknown fish and where? in the boat, or did he give it to my mother to dress at the kitchen counter, for i remember her saying, "I will clean and cook a fish but I will not eat one. ''
too late because that precious moment before i changed something
i didn't consider the past or its origin.
we live like this,
the next time,
the next time,
and when we die and have left a button open on a shirt pocket,
the shirt neatly piled with others to be taken to the Salvation Army box near the grocery store.
will the next one push through the task at hand,
or consider what might have been in the pocket?
My best friend died 34years ago leaving a two year ago son that I have never met, but recently I am talking to him on FB. I can hear it in his writing that I am changing his perseptions, as I tell him stories about his Dad. This knife will never go in the sheath in the same way again.
ReplyDeleteAlways like your writing
Dan - It is wonderful that you are in his life. You will make a great difference.
ReplyDeleteOur life bulging with signifant and insignificant moments. It is sometimes difficult to see the difference.
ReplyDeleteWhat Dan adds to this is vital, isn't it? That nothing is static, even something as seemingly static as the knife. We will affect one another and these things will impress upon us moments almost lost - if we are willing to let them in.
A beautiful moment of consideration that very quietly takes a life of its own.
xo
erin
Tears welling up... I relate to this, but for other reasons, and I feel the stir of emotion. Thanks again for sharing, as always when you do I am changed.
ReplyDeleteerin - thank you for your help on this one.
ReplyDeletemoments understood as love.
Dana - i am happy you can relate to this one personally. and in that i too am changed.
thank you.