Revelation Pome

 

Revelation

 

 Dad told us a story when

We were kids, about a classmate

When he was in seminary,

A Japanese-American,

Which added an extra dimension

Since this was just after THE WAR.

He would tell the tale when we

Were playing ping pong in the

Parsonage basement, with poles

On either side of the table and a huge

Oil furnace behind one lucky player.

His friend had fallen behind 20-0,

A remarkable thing in itself,

If you have ever played ping pong.

But he looked at Dad and said,

I will not give up,

And he scored the next point.

Again he said, I will not give up.

And one can only imagine

The determined look in his eyes,

The total concentration it took

To come all the way back

And then win the game,

Saying I will not give up.

It became the sermon in the basement.

The lesson we must somehow learn,

Till one night when I was eleven

Or twelve and Dad was making

A big comeback, saying I will not

Give up that I had an epiphany

And I blurted out, Dad, how could you

Ever let anybody come back from

20-0? And then I put him away.