The Farmer's Son

THIS IS A POEM BY ALFREDO NAVARRO SALANGA.

There is great power in reason

It comes like so much rain
Or like strong wind in a dry month

My father was bent

by work
his shoulders were bend
by words
in a contract
he never understood

While I was still

a young man
he send me off
to school
and bid me walk
with straight shoulders

Learn, he said

learn words
that you may pry off
these letters
that have made me
old and bent

I came back

many years later
with the words
I knew he wanted
but by then
it was too late

I listened to him

die with words:
you are lucky
to have learned words
they will keep you
from having bent shoulders

By his deathbed

I cried
and spat out
letter's while
my shoulders bent
with grief

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