At her Junior High School graduation,
she sings alone
in front of the lot of us–
her voice soprano, surprising,
almost a woman’s. It is
the Our Father in French,
the new language
making her strange, out there,
fully fledged and
ready for anything. Sitting
together — her separated
mother and father — we can
hear the racket of traffic
shaking the main streets
of Jersey City as she sings
Deliver us from evil,
and I wonder can she see me
in the dark here, years
from belief, on the edge
of tears. It doesn’t matter. She
doesn’t miss a beat, keeps
in time, in tune, while into
our common silence I whisper,
Sing, love, sing your heart out!
(Eamon Grennan)
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Based on Topics: Love Poems, Time Poems, Belief & Faith Poems, Woman Poems, Curiosity Poems, Good & Evil Poems, Graduation PoemsBased on Keywords: deliver, surprising, junior, jersey, fledged, soprano, racket