Ghost of a Smile


brittle hands 
at the christmas table 
applaud my mother 
for bringing me forth.

that's willie all right -  
the murray ears;  
is that his sleepy eye?

ten lifetimes ago he enlisted.  
mad about horses,  numbers,  
ranching in the argentine; 
a quartermaster-sergeant,  
unhorsed at twenty-eight. 
 
outnumbered -  
I holster my six-gun,
contribute 
the ghost of a smile.