Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

the stories he would tell me
how he butted heads with a ram
leaving the "poor creature" stunned
dumbfounded, knees buckling...
his forehead toughened
from countless days on the soccer field
his strategies and tactics - the art of misdirection
point one way, as you kick to the other
the goalie mesmerized, knees buckling...
the teacher would give him an A
without even reading the paper, indeed
to read it would have been an insult
a waste of time, besides
it was merely a temporal anomaly, or surely
the teacher would have been the student
but the ways of the gods were unfathomable

and then,
there was the war
the night of the landing
commando, delivered by submarine
to a beach in the south of crete
into the mountain villages
to organize the resistance
the redoubtable Captain Vageli
picked up by a german convoy
civilian dressed
walkie-talkie in the briefcase
nazi fingers drumming on the lid
too nervous to even sweat
in and out of their grasp
like a dream upon waking

he told me that he would never die
until he learned the secret of life
i believed him then and i believe him now
clearly i can see him
like a genie, i shake my head
and he appears, this wondrous man
my father, Captain Vageli

Tremendous tribute.

thank you, dadio - for your kind attention to my work.