Witness (For Ron Davis)

i’m convinced that if you could have seen my grandmother standing in the doorway waiting for him to come home from the fields, if you’d smelled that spectacular evening thick with sweat and felt the pulsing of the stars, if you’d bore witness to the animals’ moans echoing in the holler that night, if you just could have seen the hair rise up on their arms like that, like offerings to god, when their elbows touched, if you could have seen her longing dissipate just a little as he came through the door, smelling like a day’s work. you should have seen them close enough to breathe the same air, but not even touching. (he smiled at her without smiling.) if you could have heard her say You want some supper? We got pie. if you could have seen them watching me watch them then you’d know how much i love you.