“I’ll give you that”
used to be a phrase
said in a way
to bring an argument
to a close,
not a win nor a loss.
Fractured relationships
considered too high a cost
to force a position
one knows is lost.
My father was a master
of such admissions,
a diva of concessions
with hand flung in the air,
walking away in smiling disgust
by doing what he must
to repair every breach
brought on by derision
saying without remorse,
“I’ll give you that.”
Building love and trust
his most precious position.
All else was mere dust,
too weak to stand upon.
“I’ll give you that”
is a way of bringing
an argument to a close,
a negotiation to a completion,
an invasion to a retreat,
a war to a peace.
Dad only gave away
what did not belong to him.
He was stubborn that way.
But what he could not claim
he simply gave away.
“I’ll give you that,”
we all should be willing to say.
annarino writes 