My Father

(Young sharecropper and his first child, Hillside
Farm, Person County, North Carolina, 1939 by
Dorothea Lange, 1895-1965, American photographer)

Today we are celebrating Father’s Day.

MY FATHER

The memory of my father is wrapped up in
white paper, like sandwiches taken for a day at work.

Just as a magician takes flowers and rabbits
out of his hat, he drew love from his small body,

and the rivers of his hands
overflowed with good deeds.

~ Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000), Israeli poet