Remember that

Remember the swirling grey smoke aloft yet slashing thin running limbs, a lapse of symmetry defying our notions of truth and lines, a rhombus equating nicely to how he hurt her; she, him; a small clutch of shifting kids sliding with whoops and making sense of it.

Remember when my father's name was Jose Aguiar Sousa, Titan of the Azores, indefatigable pacifier of woes, a verbal giant, physical, robust levee against the peevish fears of men his size or more, better dressed, or worse. Remember when he calmed Colonels shitting their pants and crying for their mommies while he learned the language of a lizard's worth on the market versus what it might cost him to fuck the Colonels' wives. Remember he was materialistic, but never call him petty: he roared for the lot of them, and no one ever lost a woman they wouldn't have gladly sacrificed for his spiritual buff. Remember, pewling backstabber, that he took off where you had left. Not a soul departed on his watch in Angola. And all he did was know how to smile, cut teeth, soft jagged hurt and salve, when all anyone else could do was frown. Remember that that's all it took and that it took everything.

Remember the little chattering child in the attic of his house, wondering at the bats and headless horseman prowling; and far worse; he knew the inclinations of storytellers already. Remember how he grew and took on the sky, a personal challenge, a villain or friend, equally put on the pedestal he'd laid when she sauntered past as if it were nothing to walk in pink past leaves falling, he knew, for her (Remember that he knew they were falling for her while acorns fell on them both in separate spots but uniting them; remember that he took that night an oath that called for the head of a cat whose throat he blurred from blood tickled rather than cut).

Remember the Sargeant's blood running through a new channel, less stoic now, more versatile, hearing the gentle thump of her heart pinned to bristle boards alit with images culled by minds he'd protect her from if she'd only listened--remember that he tried to have her listen. Remember the consequences of  the nervous energy of a hurt heart wedding the master of ceremonies. Remember how the child followed the little girl throughout the day, shielding her from a stray wind if he could, or a ball let loose. He hid her in his heart; remember that.

At least a million drops have hit the saturated greens near this place; remember that, and that the one I grew to protect protects me now.

Remember that.