Bring Him Back

To coax your dad out of hiding,

Leave a bowl of his favorite ice cream on the counter and

Watch it melt.

If he doesn’t complain,

Whisper about how long it’s been since you changed your oil

About how maybe you could stretch it another year.

Listen for tools to fall from garage shelves in protest.

If there’s silence,

Fill up the tub with steaming bubbles,

change your mind,

and walk away to the sound of draining water.

He hates waste.

If still he doesn’t make a sound,

Try a gentler approach.

Put on his favorite song,

Let Zeppelin shake your walls

And dance in the kitchen with a microphone whisk.

Wait for him to join.

If this too fails,

Pull out your last and greatest trick:

Watch your belly swell

With the kicks of a baby boy

Because if anything will bring him back,

It’s how badly he’ll want to know your children.

To throw them in the air,

And change the words of their favorite stories

So there are more fight scenes.

If anything will bring him back,

It’s all the bad nicknames he can’t wait to give your children,

How gleefully he’ll laugh when they stick.

If anything will bring him back,

It’s how hard your baby kicked your ribs

Two lines ago

The way he’ll grin at the proof of growing life.

If anything will bring him back,

It’s how much it will kill him (again) to miss this.

So if you stand now with a six month belly,

And your dad has not come back from the dead,

Whisper, “thank you” to the wind

Because you know he’d return if he could.

Hold his memory in your hands as you hold your child in your arms,

And let his love pulse through your words and your laughter and your tears.

Then dish a bowl of ice cream.

But this time,

Don’t let it melt.