<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">My Father’s Boots Say Amen, Amen, Amen<b class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><b class=""> </b></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Late August, over the horizon the clouds came</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Dark, rumbly gray creeping over the tops of the mulberry grove<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">The air was deathly silent<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Mother called to us, hastily, not quietly <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">“Down in the cellar now”<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Huddling in the dark, dank dirt cave<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">My young heart cried out silently<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">“What about Dad”<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">From the depths we heard the thundering roar of wind, imagined the lightening, listened to the icy downpour<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Now silence<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Emerging we see the landscape had changed<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Between the wind and the hail the stateliness of the cornfield was gone<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Alfalfa, purple with readiness flattened<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">The destruction overwhelmed me<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">My young heart cried out silently<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">“What about Dad”<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">From the vista of our hilltop house <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I waited <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Sitting on the open porch floor<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Facing the driveway <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Legs swinging in nervous desperation<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Awaiting his arrival <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I heard the sound of his boots approaching<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I did not move<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Did not look up<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Did not say anything<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">My father stood beside me<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">In the silence<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Surveying the devastation of the fields<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">He did not say a word<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">But he didn't need to<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Whatever I needed to hear<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Whatever questions needed answers<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Were conveyed silently<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">My young heart knew<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">He was ok<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I was ok<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Life would go on<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">The world is a safe place<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">As he turned and walked away<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">My young heart was comforted by this sound<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">My father’s boots saying, amen, amen, amen.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Rebecca Evert</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><b class=""> </b></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>