A Father's Ritual | to pdf >>
by Edmund Shaheen, MD

standing on tip toes
my chin rests on the anvil shoulders
of my teenage son

this son who once straddled my shoulders asks
"Now what, Dad?"

we review again
the lesson on
tying the necktie

I watch
our reflection
as the sacred rite unfolds

like the cascading mirrors
of the barber shop
before and behind

I see my father's fathers
and my son's sons
looping the colored cloth

tying the yolk

as he gets ready for work