A Nephew’s Hug
It was the right time
For the longest hug.
Had my nephew
fathomed the death
of his own younger brother?
Did he know
his powerful, but soothing
words, the prior night’s
eulogy,
quoting my own father’s
favorite poem
needed to be
followed by
Action?
Clutching confirmation:
“No man is an island
entire of itself?”
As the Sun set over
McDowell Sonoran
Preserve,
my brother Dave’s
horse was led
across the rescue ranch,
past the gathered mourners,
his boots
in the stirrups.
Dave and I
hadn’t spoken often.
But that fact,
against his
sudden passing,
guiding
horseback
hunters
through Southern Colorado,
now seemed of no consequence.
His horse’s hooves,
his saddle’s riggings
barely broke the silence
in a steadily cooling twilight.
But they tolled
like Donne’s bells.
Only the powerful
hug offered solace.
The Brother,
The Son
beneath soaring,
watchful palms,
Diminished.
Photo Caption: David Shindel (July 22,1954 – October 19, 2019)
Len Shindel began working at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point Plant in 1973, where he was a union activist and elected representative in local unions of the United Steelworkers, frequently publishing newsletters about issues confronting his co-workers. His nonfiction and poetry have been published in the “Other Voices” section of the Baltimore Evening Sun, The Pearl, The Mill Hunk Herald, Pig Iron, Labor Notes and other publications. After leaving Sparrows Point in 2002, Shindel, a father of three and grandfather of seven, began working as a communication specialist for an international union based in Washington, D.C. The International Labor Communications Association frequently rewarded his writing. He retired in 2016. Today he enjoys writing, cross-country skiing, kayaking, hiking, fly-fishing, and fighting for a more peaceful, sustainable and safe world for his grandchildren and their generation. Shindel is currently working on a book about the Garrett County Roads Workers Strike of 1970 www.garrettroadstrike.com.