Goneril and Regan: A Defense

He never, never, never,
never, never spoiled the child
by sparing his word, and we, chilled
to our hearts, goose-fleshed with shivers

beside him on his windy bluff
(That, too, pointing to the water,
is mine) learned from our father
what constitutes enough.

All things — Ocean, Sky, Time itself —
may, with a harrowing eye, be parsed and parceled.
We loved him once, and this is still the marvel:
how we washed and returned to the shelf  

the sheets that touched the withered penis
after he stayed the few nights we’d divided up between us.

ξ

Steve Kronen's collections are Homage to Mistress Oppenheimer (Eyewear), Splendor (BOA), and Empirical Evidence (U of Georgia). "Goneril and Regan: A Defense" is from a new manuscript, Winter in Miami. His website is www.stevekronen.com.