My father and his son

From the
faded photograph
in monochrome
my father
a striking young man
with his first born
in his hands
beams hesitantly
Unsure of the future
of his black and white world

Best shirt on
from his three shirt wardrobe
a bicycle leaned against
the jam tree
in the distant background
He smiles
Unaware of the things to come
unaware
that he would
toil for years
in the scorching heat of a arid land
come home
and die

Next to that photo is another
his son cradling in his hands
the granddaughter whom he never knew
with an uncommitted smile