The Way of It
punt
twilight
not yet supper
father not yet home
boy and brother
playing at football
in the front yard,
punting,
eight year old proud
he can kick it farther than
his five year old brother.
old car pulls up,
releases father
from another work day
he stops,
watches the boys for a while
asks for the ball,
looks at it,
and in an impossibly
sudden moment
kicks it,
all the difficulties
of a life swinging
from the axle of his hip
up the ball goes
and up and up,
up and up
into the gathering dark.
next morning
the boys find a football
in a neighbor’s yard
it looks like theirs
they’ll kick it some more
but know the real one
has sailed past the moon
by Nils Peterson
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