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MUSED
BellaOnline Literary Review
Tampa Bay Sunset by Lisa Shea

Table of Contents

Poetry


My Father's Footsteps

Martha Landman

steadfast as the rise and fall of the Africa sun
signalled the start of day on the farm —
the chatter of the work folk
the women’s robes flagging in the breeze
a baby on its mother’s back or breast
in the distance cowbells, sprinklers on the lawn
a tractor starting up in a diesel waft

before the birds rose at the edge of dawn
those footsteps, firm and fast
were warning signs —
be ready, act busy, dodge the whip
for idleness is the devil’s pillow
my father a straight man
and every step on that farm
was like stomping grapes to make good wine