Jeg elsker deg by Lisa Zaran

Thank you, father, for all the books

you left me when you died.

For all the letters you never sent,

each one addressed to mother.

Thank you for the 3 shotguns missing

their important parts, even the police

said they were useless but would

dispose of them for me.

Thank you for the notebooks

of inventory you kept so neat,

each sale in blue, each return in red.

Reading your profit margin brought

me to wisdom. Who can live off sixty five dollars?

I could not fully understand.

Thank you for the tiny drawings

you made on scraps of loose leaf paper,

some reminded me of ideas unrealized-

as if you knew where the mind ends

and nature begins.

Thank you, also, for the small embraces

you gave me along the way.

So few and far between yet so profound.

Arm around my shoulders,

sturdy fingers tucking raggedy hair

behind my ears, light kiss on the forehead,

the freedom to say, I love you

leaps from my heart and my throat now

like museum tears.

Lisa Zaran is an American poet, essayist and author of six collections. Current work can be found or is upcoming in A Little Poetry, Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k), Juked and the anthology Not A Muse. She is the founder and editor of Contemporary American Voices.