Messenger
Robert René Galván
Ascending from the shore
where he landed
so many years ago,
the force of his frame
diminished from
nearly a century of use,
he steps gingerly
up the steep slope,
difficult even for
the daughter at his side;
they cut through
the neighbor’s yard,
past the empty house,
pass through a part
in the hedge:
he speaks of his mother,
her sturdy build
and burnt orange hair,
her kind heart,
enormous spirit.
A red fox scampers
across the autumn grass,
pauses in front of the two,
looks up expectantly
for a moment and vanishes
into the pines.
where he landed
so many years ago,
the force of his frame
diminished from
nearly a century of use,
he steps gingerly
up the steep slope,
difficult even for
the daughter at his side;
they cut through
the neighbor’s yard,
past the empty house,
pass through a part
in the hedge:
he speaks of his mother,
her sturdy build
and burnt orange hair,
her kind heart,
enormous spirit.
A red fox scampers
across the autumn grass,
pauses in front of the two,
looks up expectantly
for a moment and vanishes
into the pines.
Robert René Galván, born in San Antonio of Indigenous/Mexican heritage, resides in New York City where he works as a professional musician and poet. His collections of poems include Meteors, Undesirable: Race and Remembrance, Somos en Escrito Foundation Press, Standing Stones, Finishing Line Press, and The Shadow of Time, Adelaide Books.