arbutus

Father became son
became family
became home
became distance
became back then
became the word to recover an irretrievable time
became nostalgia and a longing for the real thing-in-itself became the language of a former grace
became the separation of a good man
became the memory and the mouth
became the sound of home only heard as house
became that one unremarkable moment
became six-hundred miles
became an unassailable loneliness
became a life misplaced that became his belief in a hidden order and the pieces of a perfectible life.