Empty Chair Reunion

Mama set the candles out Daddy checked the rain One chair waited

by the window Like it knew his name

The turkey cooled beneath the foil

The biscuits split with steam

A football game was murmuring low Beside an old TV

Aunt June asked about the weather My sister passed the peas

Nobody named the missing one

But we all watched that seat

There was an empty chair at Thanksgiving

A prayer we could not say

A brother shaped hole in the doorway

That never went away But love keeps a porch light burning

Long past the hardest years If mercy finds the handle

Let it walk in here (ooh) Grandpa carved a little slower

His hands began to shake

He said your brother loved the skin Then looked down at his

plate

I remembered porch-step summers

Two boys racing rain

Then doors that slammed one winter night

And years we could not change

Then the wind pushed hard against the screen

And every fork went still Three slow knocks crossed the kitchen air

And climbed the windowsill Mama stood but could not move

Daddy closed his eyes

My sister said his name once Like a match about to light

There was an empty chair at Thanksgiving

Till he stood there in the rain

With a coat too thin for November And sorrow on his face

Mama crossed the room like thunder

Daddy broke in tears

When mercy found the handle

It walked back in here (yeah)

He said I don't deserve this table

Daddy said sit down

Mama held his worn-out shoulders Like the lost had now been found

We passed the plate around him No speeches,

no defense

Just gravy, grace, and shaking hands Across the years between (ooh) One

more chair pulled to the table One more prayer began And the

house that held its breath for years Finally breathed again