I watched the fire with the moon overhead and prayer songs echoing off the wall of blackness outside the ceremony circle. My Dad walked up behind me out of the dark and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned my head and saw his kind smile peripherally. He was nervous it seemed to me. He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Please forgive me,” he said. I instinctively scoffed back, “you have nothing to be sorry for!” Then I stopped and reexamined this interaction. He needed this … not me. So, I breathed deeply and just listened to his confessions. When he was finished I said, “I forgive you.” Then I added, “please forgive me for not truly listening until now, I should have done that more when you walked with me.” He smiled and faded into the night behind me.
(note: My father, Daniel Otis Long, may he finally rest in peace, passed over in June of 2014)
This is my journey,
— Nate Long “Owl”
graphite with digital manipulation