Along a Stony Path

Along a Stony Path
It happens every spring: the weather warms and I open my workroom window. Laden with pollen and perfume, the breeze fills the curtain like a sail and knocks over the picture of my father sitting sideways on his tractor in the yard, looking down at the left rear tire with cleats already half-worn, his right hand on the wheel. The five-by-seven frame falls from its pedestal of books and lands with a crash on my faithful laser printer, which squeaks when it runs and requires my gentle doctor�s touch to deliver a newborn page, though I omit the spank. Then I discover how dusty the top book has become, my Zhamakirk, or Book of Hours, printed in Classical Armenian in 1955 at the Monastery of Saint James in the Old City of Jerusalem. His work undone, my father waits impatiently while I turn the brittle, yellowed pages, pleased to find I can still read the words inside, the old mad alphabet carved along a stony path marked by musical notation, stresses and swirls few priests follow and only experts understand. Finally, I put down the book and pick up my father, tractor and all. I am his father now. Every spring, he listens to my insane lullaby, intent upon his vineyard rows. Every spring, we are both surprised. *May 15, 2005* Previous Entry Next Entry Return to Songs and Letters About the Author	Also by William Michaelian POETRY Winter Poems ISBN: 978-0-9796599-0-4 52 pages. Paper. �� Another Song I Know ISBN: 978-0-9796599-1-1 80 pages. Paper. �� Cosmopsis Books San Francisco Signed copies available Main Page Author�s Note Background Notebook A Listening Thing Among the Living No Time to Cut My Hair One Hand Clapping Songs and Letters Collected Poems Early Short Stories Armenian Translations Cosmopsis Print Editions Interviews News and Reviews Highly Recommended Let�s Eat Favorite Books & Authors Useless Information Conversation E-mail & Parting Thoughts Flippantly Answered Questions
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