Bare Feet on a Wooden Floor

Probably the best beloved and known poem of his this side of "The Unicorns", this is the final poem in the extraordinary "Goldenheart Cycle"; 49 poems he wrote, on a two day poetry bender, to a protege. She rejected him, but the poetry is lovely.

Look at it carefully, the subtlety of language and form on a second read is staggeringing.

Bare Feet on a Wooden Floor

I ate a daisy today. (to settle a bet between my child
and my wife if I could or would.) Daddy is not so ancient
that he has forgotten the value of play in the lurking wild
of a newly discovered world. Mommy has been patient,
but loves and lives for and with this world, and late
at night, while our children sleep, goes on a date
with me in the kitchen, dancing strange emotions stored
in cookie jar hearts that never break. bare feet on a wooden floor.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.