If Love Were a Bead

If Love Were a Bead

First
Index finger
tap, tap, tapping
on an urgent knee
over a swinging foot
oncology waiting room

Later
My brother, bald, in silhouette
against the setting sun
outside the window on 6-West
My father,
beside the wheelchair
holding his son's head erect

They stare
toward the horizon

Backlit in fiery orange
luminous
suspended in glowing gold cloud
each the wing of an insect
captured forever in a teardrop of amber

If love were a bead
I'd wear them always around my neck