is anybody’s guess,
my father used to say—

that, and Don’t count
your chickens before

they’re hatched. And,
he’d tease my sister and me,

Eat your vegetables—
they’ll put hair on

your chest. As little
girls, we’d protest,

Daddy! We don’t want
hair on our chests!”

Which made him laugh
and come in for the tickle,

wrapping his big bear
arms around us,

a connection we still
feel decades later,

sneaking peeks at
our chests, just to

make sure.

•••

(for Roger E. Haag, 1930–2004)