How Do You Follow A Legacy?

 

How do you follow a legacy?
Maybe I should ask my father's father...
Next time I see him,
To understand the things that matter...
The elements of life and limb,
The moment we make friends
Or separate from kin.
I wonder what our elders would say,
Seeing our day to day,
Our ways and means...
Could they understand our theme?
Our modus, the scripts we follow...
But I digress.
Yet let me stress.
These words are a celebration
Not a query or question...
Not hearsay but reflection
On instances and spaces
Between two faces, two people,
Two men...
Let's begin!
We haven't always seen eye to eye.
We often stood toe to toe...
Respectfully, most of the time...
At times our minds align
By the design...
But could also go awry,
Crossing lines
Drawn in the sand
Especially when I, as a boy, felt as a man...
Attempting to show my hand,
My full house, the tight end, so to speak.
But many times over, my situation
Became bleak
Dire even...
The ruler had sired me then.
Showing me who was king...
Head of the table...
Demonstrating how able he was,
Still capable of me putting his paw down...
"You may be taller, stronger, better looking
But you would never be as ignorant as me."
I think back and those moments
Are shrouded in the heat,
The anger,
The point to be proven...
But the lessons always took root
Deep inside,
When you realise the lineage and
How it fills you with pride
The pride of being a man ..
Understanding why your father
Is your father,
Why his discipline and perception
Is what it is. Conviction!
What it is at his core,
But there's more.
Witnessed tears cascade down his face once ever in life...
But it wasn't at the passing of his wife
She's still here, strong and resilient...
Not at the going home of his mum or dad.
Even when his sister by marriage
Shocked us all...
And her partner dropped the mic,
SHR stayed in his zone...
And to each his own.
That's Stewart.
However, in theme
with the aforementioned scraps
And scrapes,
The head to heads we had
As father and son
A moment would come...
A day when it broke after so much bending
A confrontation,
Seemingly unending
Contending for the last undisputed spot,
Needless to say it hot.
Fiery...
But in retrospect, necessary.
How you ask...
Because when we remove our masks
And understood the task at hand
It's when I truly became a man
And my dad showed me the plan.
By right I should've been out the house
Residing elsewhere...
My without-a-care, laissez-faire approach
Met with a wall
A stall, may-day may-day...
That was it.
I felt.
No more home to come back to...
This is it... like MJs last show.
Would I go out like him?
Who knows...
But, yes a but...
Even after the blow up that ensued,
And a walk up to the airport
Searching my mind for clues
As to why... who dis man think he is??
Well I'm about to tell you...
Upon my return...
The sun had gone down.
The heat that flared like a summer day
Had eased to a cool breeze...
Indicative of the head space needed
To rectify and feel...
What was necessary to set things right. What a night was ahead.
I entered and sauntered
To the bedroom where he sat...
Awaiting my sentence,
Stewart now wearing the judge's hat
But amazingly...
As he turned and listened
My apology laid out in front of him
Instead of castigating,
He opened up, revealing
My son... he said...
It is I who have done wrong
The lyrics to this song
Would stay with me so long
The situation escalated...
Should never have been
Furthermore what should have ended,
We didn't have to begin
But let me say this...
I always hold you and your sister
In highest regard
The last thing I'd want, is to hurt
Or discard
The love I have for you...
Runs deep and true...
The most important things in my life...
Are her and you.
No balling, or bellowing,
But a simple quiet tear
Showed me his character...
In this moment we shared.
The man I knew, always stoic,
Clever and sarcastic
Was an open book,
Pages filled with love
I couldn't deny it.
We embraced and refreshed,
This moment was unique.
Unequivocally important...
To how we now speak
And relate, the challenges still exist,
But never cutting ties
As we know we'd both miss...
The conversations, the understanding,
Between man and son,
Man and father,
And we continue through life
To gather and learn,
Meander through turns
I maintain...
How do you follow legacy?
You seek to understand the paths
The ones before have charted.
The journey they started
And what they pass on...
As they live on through us
It is a must...
That we remember and cherish
Our fathers.

Love and respect always to
Stewart Henderson Russell...
There are many ways to be a good father
And I likely have made you figure out all of them but I want to say thank you for all you've done and continue to do for me and Lynelle. We are farther today, on Fathers' day thanks to you!

 

Michael Russell © June 18, 2023

 

Be Wary Though Weary

 

 

 

I know we’re COVID weary:

It’s been around a while

And it continues to wreak havoc

For many a human mile.

 

As for me, I am tired

And wish it would go away

But even though I get COVID weary

I keep my guard up every day.

 

Stay COVID wary!

Be always on the look-out!

That COVID will be around a while

I have not the slightest doubt.

 

Stay COVID wary, I repeat,

Do not be weary in well doing,

Protect yourself and your fellowman

This advice is worth chewing.

 

There is doubt about vaccines

But little about the masks,

Therefore, adhering to this protocol

Should not be a difficult task.

 

I seldom hear a cough or sneeze

When I am out in public,

It appears that the common cold

Has speedily taken its exit.

 

 

One doctor explained to me

It’s because we are wearing masks

Therefore, because of this behavior

Flu viruses will not be passed.

 

He also highlighted hygiene

As in the washing of the hands,

As we continue to do this regularly

It will upset COVID’s plans.

 

Physical distance is not as easy

As the afore-mentioned two

But it’s an absolutely critical protocol

For each one of us to do.

 

I do believe these protocols

Indicate how wary we should be

And regarding their constant practice

Please do not grow weary.

 

 

These two words are synonyms

And they really sound alike

But please do not confuse the two

As we continue this COVID fight.

 

For if we weary in being wary

Then COVID will dominate

But if we be wary while being weary

COVID will disintegrate.

 

A word to the fully vaccinated:

Continue to wear your mask!

There is still a lot about COVID-19

That we are yet to grasp.

 

Stay COVID wary, I admonish,

Adhere to the protocols!

And until we are out of the woods

Put risky behaviours on stall.

 

Stewart Russell © August 17, 2021

 

A Conversation with COVID

 

 

I needed to speak with COVID

But he bluntly refused,

As I approached him in my mask

He was not amused.

 

He begged me to remove it

I told him I could not,

He referred to the many who did

And I said look at their lot.

 

He spoke of his busy schedule

Regarding people and places,

And said he had no regard for people

Who could not show their faces.

 

He said I was COVID phobic

And there was not much that I knew

But he would get me eventually

And there was nothing I could do.

 

 

I asked if that was the case

Why his concern about my mask,

He turned to walk away

Then suddenly stopped and asked…

 

“Are you afraid of me?”

I found that question strange,

For after all the havoc he has caused

He would have to be deranged.

 

“Who wouldn’t be afraid of you?”

“You’d be amazed,” he replied.

“Crazy party-goers and church people

And many more besides.

 

With such support from these

I will be around for a long time

And even when I am not around

I will still invade your mind...

 

So that life without COVID

Will be a thing of the distant past

But whenever you go out in public

You will still be wearing a mask.”

 

 

He said that with a sneer

Whereupon I brought up the vaccine

But his sneer turned to laughter

And I felt I could scream.

 

It was an eerie kind of laughter

Of the kind associated with a demon

And I got the distinct impression

I was conversing with Satan.

 

Get thee behind me, Satan

Was what I was tempted to say

But I must admit here and now

I was overwhelmed by fear.

Fortunately, I kept on my mask,

And my hands were sanitized

And I had kept my physical distance

Because COVID I despise.

 

By the way, COVID was a friend

That wanted me to hug

But I stoutly resisted the temptation

Whereupon COVID just shrugged.

 

When meeting your family

That are not of your household

Refrain from hugging and kissing-

COVID is both horrid and bold.

 

 My Christian brothers and sisters

Avoid laying on of hands

For COVID slays Christians as well

As part of his plan.

 

You may say I have no faith

But I beg you please open your eyes,

The friend you converse with

May be COVID in disguise.

Converse at a six feet distance

With those not of your household

Or you may become a COVID statistic

In six feet of filled in mold.

 

Stewart Russell © February 24, 2021

Community Spread

 

 

The very thing we feared

And hoped it would never happen

Is now among us

And we feel panic-stricken.

 

From local transmission

To something more dread,

Now they have finally admitted

We have community spread.

 

We can fiddle with terms

When we are fearing the worst

But being straight-up with people

Is the better course.

 

Now there is community spread

How should we proceed?

The answer to this is simple:

The protocols we must heed.

 

 

Wear your mask

When outside your household,

Keep your physical distancing

Do not play you are bold.

 

Sanitize your hands

And keep them out of your face,

Starve COVID to death

And get it out of this place.

 

Pray for civic responsibility

For the other than the wise

And for the opportunistic ones

That use masks as a disguise.

 

That hide behind masks

To carry out their criminal deeds

And for those who know better

But are overcome by greed.

 

We must fight this together

Metaphorically, hand in hand,

Not physically of course;

This is presently banned.

 

Temporarily we hope

And certainly not for long

For if we are going to defeat COVID

We all must be strong.

 

Strong in being disciplined

And in cooperating with the authorities,

One for all and all for one

The essence of national unity.

 

Considering the other person

As the Holy Bible recommends

And trusting in the Almighty God

On whom we can depend.

 

God will certainly lead us

Through these COVID-19 strains

But we must be prepared as a nation

To hand Him the reins.

 

Stewart Russell © January 24, 2021

 

My New Year Wish

 

 

My New Year wish-

Is that COVID would leave

And that I could breathe

How I used to breathe.

 

Without a mask

Covering up my face,

How I wish COVID would leave

Without a trace!

 

That things would be

Like they were before

And this COVID-19

Would trouble me no more.

 

I would make a promise

Not ever to complain

If only COVID would be gone

Never to come again.

 

 

There is nothing normal

About this new norm,

Give me the old norm…

This one I scorn.

 

You get out of the car

But must quickly return,

You have forgotten the mask

How that really burns!

 

You enter at a door

And are stopped in your tracks,

Hand sanitizer and temperature gun

Or you must turn back.

 

And as you do your business

Don’t get up too close,

No hugging and no kissing;

An elbow-knock at the most.

 

You get back home

And parcels must be sanitized,

Everybody loves Raymond

But COVID I despise.

 

 

All gatherings reduced

To ten persons or less

And a cough or sneeze in public

Could mean a COVID test.

 

A swab up your nose-

Which is extremely uncomfortable

But this is part and parcel

Of this COVID trouble.

 

How I seriously wish

That COVID-19 would suddenly go!

For sure, this is the sentiment

Of both the high and low.

 

COVID does not differentiate

Between these two,

Neither does it distinguish

Between me and you.

 

I wish we could synergize

And just wish COVID away

But alas! I have a strong feeling

It will not leave today.

 

My wish for 2021

Is that COVID would leave me alone

And choose some other planet

To go there and roam.

 

 

Let's adhere to the protocols

And force COVID to dry up

And remember, prayer is a better option

Than just wishing for good luck.

 

Stewart Russell © January 6, 2021