Ritual
by Gerald C. Wood
The steel toe broke the skin
of clay and dirt as I slumped,
troubled at knowing Indians
chained, sold blacks in Charleston.
I stood among the shards,
overalls too tight in the
bottom, short at the shoes,
a harlequin farmer at rest.
I sighed as my son ran uphill,
breathless into the garden,
holding his left hand out,
as if expecting healing rain.
Cooling, his words fell on me,
“Dad, want to play catch?” as
I dropped the hoe, stood tall,
Believing time our best friend.
That field dissolves from garden
to dream, as the boy, grown a teen,
returns again a victor on the track,
his words seeking “a game of catch.”
Now with labored breath, I long to be
a homeless ghost, haunting this land
as our play and game grow still and
“a catch,” not ours, has a timeless pass.
Gerald C. Wood is co-editor of Northsiders: Essays in the History and Culture of the Chicago Cubs and author of Smoky Joe Wood: Biography of a Baseball Legend, recipient of the Seymour Medal (2014). His essays on baseball also have been published in NINE Journal. He is Emeritus Professor of English, Carson-Newman University.