- Non-Erotic Poetry
- The old man with no name
Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.
You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.
Click hereI have seen him there
on the narrow bridge
fishing line dangling
into gentle water
I have seen him there
in the wild wood
permanent scowl
etched on parched lips
And I want to know
I must know
what he was like
as a child
His first catch
a striped bass
How proud he was
the neighborhood King
And a little later
when church bells rang
His new found love
made nature a distant memory
Yet sometime after that
he heard the call
The gentle caress of the wind
The distant cry of a coyote
And transfixed by his first love
he abandoned mundane pleasures
and became one with the land
an address with no mailbox
They looked at first...they always do
But how can you find an image?
Search under the brambles
and over the ridge
Ask the flowers
for direction or scent
Tell the rabbits
the last road he fled
Yet after a while
they all forgot
even his name
unlisted and unpublished
Then I saw him in the sun
windburned and wizened
wrapping a fish
humming an odd tune
And suddenly I knew
who that old man-
that old man with no name
really was
--- my father
- COMMENTS
duddle146over 17 years agoA lovely ethereal rendering in tribute to a much loved Father. May the Son enjoy the feeling of love and gratification that writing such a touching tribute brings.
dcpoet44almost 19 years agoin light of the fact that it is of your father. but what i'm grasping onto is the fact it could be the one that really isn't known. what gives me that impression is from the title. maybe i'm wrong. he may be close to you, but it looks to say he's a stranger. this could be of a situation that you have been involved with too. i'm just working with what i see. maybe all is needed here in the poem if that is the case. i do like the feel overall. anyways.......that's my input.....it's worth a 5 to me......don
sandspikeabout 19 years agoYour poems come from people near and dear to you. That maybe why they appear a bit too wordy, at least to me.
Try writing about the last beautiful stranger you saw.
Unless you got lucky, I think you'll have a shorter but
more powerful piece of poetry. I did like this poem.
Anonymousabout 19 years agoI like this a lot, though there may be a few spots that could be edited.
The only spot that really bothered me was this:
"I have seen him there
in the wild wood
permanent scowl
etched on parched lips"
The last two lines are a bit too wordy.
Maybe you could try:
I have seen him there
in the wild wood
a scowl etched
on parched lips
