Hands Like His Son's


Old burnings,

bombardments,

betrayals,

scar his road.


The dead he lost (and the dead he

chose)

we can't bring back.


But into the great silence

of his childhood,

let us put

a father

at ease with love


attuned to patience;

whose humor, lit and ready,

dismantled sadness.


A father whose eyes

brimmed

with praise,

whose gentle voice

the animals came to willingly,

whose hands, like his son's,

were achingly

careful.


Let us—because we can

give a father worthy of the name

to the son who felt the ground beneath him

melt and run

and yet stood firm.

Sons prove their fathers

fierce and fair,

who find the thread of good

in every man.


For harsh breeds harsh

and cold

breeds only more cold.

Belittling begets bullies

not heroes.


Boys, like ours,

learned self-worth, not in the breach

but by example.

They learned honor by precedent

molded in the curve of their fathers' words

—tender at their engendering

—steady in their wandering

remembered past remembering.


Though branches broken by storm

heal over hard,

roots will hold where the heartwood's true.

Where shelter was given,

shelter grows


and green will come.


JH*SS*JH*SS


Note: A recording of "Hands Like his Son's" is posted on SoundCloud dot com (search for "A Michigan Skylark in Laramie").

My inspiration for this poem was the sacred choral work "Do Not Be Afraid" by modern British composer Philip Stopford with text by Gerard Markland* (several gorgeous versions are posted on YouTube). Though I don't intend my poem to be read as religious allegory, Stopford's intimate portrayal of God's love prompted me to think about earthly fathers, Jess' father in particular.

Jess himself says almost nothing about his father, so as writers of fanfiction we are left on our own to fill out the details using the only evidence we have—Jess' own character. Did his father possess the same qualities that we love and admire in Jess? I would very much like it to be so.


*"When you walk through the waters, I'll be with you;

—you will never sink beneath the waves.

When the fire is burning all around you,

you will never be consumed by the flames.

When the fear of loneliness is looming,

then remember that I am at your side.

When you dwell in the exile of a stranger,

remember you are precious in my eyes.

For you are mine, o my child, and I am your Father.

And I love you, I love you, I love you with a perfect love."

—from "Do Not Be Afraid" by Philp Stopford and Gerard Markland