He read a poem about an impatient
father teaching his son how to tie
shoe laces. The poet used the meta-
phor of a knot and how it took most
of his life to untie the knot of his
father’s hold on him. In this case
he is the father with the self-made
knot of guilt and regret in his sto-
mach like Marley’s ball and chain
carried around forever about teach-
ing his daughter to pray, losing pat-
ience when the child couldn’t mem-
orize the words quickly enough for
him causing her to cry. Can you im-
agine ruining prayer for a child?
Neither could he.