Honor Thy Father

Poetry by Ralph La Rosa

Ray’s father groaned: In the store,

below the petty cash drawer.

Bring it to me. Hurry.

Before they all come home.

Ray raced to the store and back—

to lightning’s cracking thunder

to hail stones pelting limbs

of acorn-bleeding oak trees

and shivering rooftop tiles.

As green wood hissed in the hearth,

Ray’s head spun, his shaking

fingers gripped the pistol.

Called by the old man,

Ray wept and cursed mankind.

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Bio: Ralph La Rosa is a Poet from Los Angeles, California. His poetry appears widely on the Internet, in print journals and anthologies, and in the chapbook Sonnet Stanzas and full-length collections Ghost Trees and My Miscellaneous Muse.