Lessons Learned

From father’s facial expressions and

manner of speaking,

my brothers and I learned.

From the way he shaved and combed

his hair,

to the perfect Windsor knot he tied,

we learned.

From his promises to our mother for

a better life which he

struggled and failed to achieve,

from the paper airplanes he made us

to fly on weekends,

we learned.

From the way he lit his cigarette and

the smoke rings hew blew

to the crushing of expended butts

into the ashtray,

my brothers and I paid attention

and we learned.

From the holding of a hammer,

the pounding nails

to the accidental smashing of his thumb,

to the yelling of curse words

we heard,

my brothers and I learned.

From the toothy smiles,

the glad-handing and thank yous he gave

to the impatient rage

for our disobedience he gave,

we learned.

From the way he hung his head

devoutly in church to pray

to the disappointed scowl

frozen to his face

he wore up until his last days,

oh, how we learned.

When distressed or perturbed,

Mother used to tell my

brothers and me individually,

that we three boys were

just like our father.

We have always done so well what

we were taught to do.

How could it have been otherwise?

We learned.

Chris Hanch 5-7-17