UNCLE
He was old,
a bachelor who loved to tease
nieces who were the apples of his eye.
Overweight with pants that hung too low,
swaddling on his hips
as if ready to tumble.
He drank too much and smelled of snuff,
but he was fun and good hearted.
Somedays he called too many times
for a busy day.
So many things to do
raising a family to have time
For old uncles.
His coffin stood nut brown,
rotund like he
at the front of the church.
So hard to say good bye
to a gnarled, loved old man.
In her mind she seems him,
shake off his fat man’s clothes
and throw down his cane.
He smiles a young man’s smile
and runs across a field,
the lush grass, soft beneath his feet.
He runs, no longer short of breath,
no longer cripped.
He is going home.