Like a child
Books in hand
I sit waiting
Tapping and wondering
If I’m forgotten
Like a dog
By the gate
Watching for the
School bus crest
The hill yonder
Hoping it’s soon
Like the driver
Caught running late
In snarly traffic
Watching his watch
Time slipping by
This is me
Rapunzel in tower
Dreaming of that
One thing that
Will rescue me
Not from what
I am but
Will make me
Surely what I
I could be
And once again
Once the excitement
Of the newness
Has worn off
Like a birthday bike
I lean against
The garage wall
Never taken out
For an adventure
Once shiny new
Now I’m old
Tarnished and rusty
Not even my
Bell sings but
Simply tinly taps
If only once
My streamers flew
I’d know what
Freedom is like
Why oh why
Am I passed
Over for something
Shiny and new
Like licking batteries
Or playing with
A mousetrap and
Getting snapped mistakes
Are simply lessons
To be learned
Tools in toolbox
Cautions in decisions
Fear not the
Shock or snap
For if one
Doesn’t try one
Doesn’t learn like
Ducks crash landing
On icy skillet
Ponds or cubs
Climbing in trees
Bouncing when fall
We are always
Always learning something
Especially in love
My dear boy
We are all
Born one thing
Then become another
Like the acorn
Begins as something
Round and hard
Then with time
Becomes something majestic
Let yourself be
Protected right now
And over time
Your canopy spreads
Then withstanding anything
Bringing eventual shade
To everything else
And I remember
That night in
The tent made
Of blankets and
Sheets we were
Explorers in the
Jungles off borabora
We pretended then
Creating lions tigers
And creepy crawling
Things with hands
And fingers and
Flashlights eating beans
And hot dogs
Just as sleep
Took hold I
Felt your fingers
Poke and tickle
Making me squeal
It’s like that
This morning many
Many years later
Us still adventurers
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 