A Gift from My Father

The water flowed through the pipes today
Thanks to your work at LADWP
You left me a suitcase when you
died too young

Sadly there is no more ice water
in paper cone cups
water and cups
left over from your day as foreman
I, the self-appointed water supervisor,
led the crowd over
after our game of Mother May I
“line up for ice water”
Open the steel door and find
the five-gallon, heavy-duty metal cooler,
confined, solid and steady,
still half full of water and ice
I dispensed lavishly, but always
maintained control
for the neighborhood kids
They all knew it was better than the hose

But the suitcase couldn’t keep ice
It’s full of water and power though
electrified
rainwater and tears
Power to make it
power to take control
even when I was
a broken baby bird
A gift of water and power
A message from you:
Be careful not to electrocute
yourself and others

Today is Sunday, Day 117 in Bahrain’s stay-at-home time, day 82 of The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad. The prompt today is by Suleika. We are to imagine if I had a suitcase left to me by my father. What would be in it?