Sadie’s Nightcap

If you stand outside

And look up into

Her second floor window

You will see the stack

Red, blue, brown

Piled high and crooked

One particular night

After having taken one

Gently off the pile

And after having tasted the words:

“Devotion is a love affair

Between your soul and God,”

Sadie let the book lie

Across her chest

As she fell into the softest

Slumber of her forty-six years

Maybe she was just drunk

Off of a few haphazard letters

Or maybe she had just been given

The best kiss of her sweet lifetime.

Parenting

Let’s call every girl

Who likes to move

An athlete

And name every act

A boy aches to share

His art

For what is talent

But a judgment call

Let’s all agree

What they need us

Here for

Is to fan the spark

For each child

Is born with

An inner glow

An urge just waiting to

Ignite

Let’s feed those flames

With love

Like gentle breezes

Let’s know

Each boy and girl

Has a gift

They surely burn

Just to provide.

With You

They went to sit

By the sea

And he said,

“I am here

To breathe love”

And she felt

The weight

Of the world

Leave her shoulders.

Back To School

She gave him a notebook

And called the pages sacred

She asked him to place

A golden pen by his chest

Then she said,

“Dear Son,

Be open

To all that you may see here

But be sure

To write your own words

In this book with this pen

(Don’t let another write your story

I want you to be free!)”

She kissed him on his forehead

And felt his unlocked goodness

She gave him one last hug

As she left him at the tree

She would wonder of the fruit

And she would pray

He’d find some shade there

She was leaving

A great part of her

To grow there by that tree.