White Hair by Kalvin M. Madsen

This poem is a response to one my dad wrote by the same name. It is included below.

White Hair

I figure you were finally caught

by the old man

you tried to chase away.

I think I saw him too

at my dusk and your dawn,

in the morning after too much wishing

I could carry you along.

Maybe Calvin Senior came

and pulled you away

you wrote how smart men do this

each in their own way.

I know you’d never leave without a fight,

never gently into that good night.

But now that you are out of sight,

it seems Superman found his kryptonite.

I figure I got

about 10 years left

to chase away

the old man.

I’ve seen him

late at night and

in the morning

after too much whiskey.

That’s wish-key.

Maybe it’s my father

I see or my dead brother.

Each man in his own way

must do this I guess.

The smart ones anyway.

I can still run faster

than a speeding bullet

and I know Superman

had a cigarette

once in a while.