💾 Archived View for rawtext.club › ~mieum › poems › 2020-09-03-lamb.gmi captured on 2023-03-20 at 18:18:37. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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Lamb

The doors slide open, and I board.
It’s busy---bulky luggage crowding
the floor. A mother with a hard shell
suitcase sits, an infant on her lap,
smiling at me. I smile back.
I start to read my book
and a short way in,
mom unstraps the harness,
turns baby around so she can sleep
on her chest. And she does
immediately. That’s the only world
she’s ever known, the only way she’s ever been
and I remember
when the same was true for
you and me.
I cherished those days! I put off other things
like work
to be there in your world together
as much as I could afford.

The hard thing about being your dad
is that you have to be you---
you have to grow on, go on,
and flee cocoon
after cocoon.
And here you are now:
Climbing, jumping, sliding,
squirming! requesting, riding,
drawing, feeding, teasing,
goofing off

and I wonder if you recall---
although it was not long ago---
all the hours that you spent,
slept, played and simply were,
	safe
	and always on the way
	toward these new
	and older yous,
cradled in your papa’s arms.

All those Lous
I never could forget.
Those days were
the only ways
I ever knew to be
with you, and breath
by breath you depend
on Papa less
and less
I doubt
of us who really was the lamb.

_________

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