Father's Day

Dusk and my daughter tiptoes to close the door

To her room, leaving me alone to study

The shadows floating up the wall as the sun

Outlines unicorns

And flying horses that above her bed.

I mount the horse that is nearest to where I sit

Persuaded by the way its wings smell of milk

And baby shampoo.

It carries me so high so fast that my ears

Pop. I fear the speed of our ascent and, fearing,

Find myself back on the rug, staring at the closet

Emptied of Jamie’s

Clothes. Her room is so quiet in this darkness

Now that she has left with her groom. The mobile

Still dangles where it had been all these years. A horse

Rounds into a beam

Shining into Jamie’s room from the hallway.

It bows its head and a trickling of light

Glances off its wing and disappears

To the night above.