Jake's Flea Market

last night
i wanted uncle guido to come again
alive   dark bearded   dark eyed
as he must have come to father's dying

at suppertime
to step into mother's dining room
skull capped   black cassocked
with a crimson sash and scarlet piping

mother
i wanted her again   alive
to remain seated at the dinner table
young and beautiful   widowed

she welcomed 
her brother like he'd become
that daily hour   comfortable that came
before midday in the summer

and in winter
it was after midday that she opened
the windows to allow
a change of air into the palace

i wanted uncle to drop
on the table   the coins in the purse 
the rents and the dues
taxes collected on mother's behalf

to say he'd found
a drip from a gutter   a few broken bricks
to promise he'd hire
someone to clean and repair a chimney

i wanted to be asked
what we children had learned
from the tutor today   latin or logic
philosophy or fencing   to play a lute

i wanted to learn again
how to call him padre