i am

i am a human soul, ageless.
i am new life, precious.
i am come unto you, fresh and open.
Fill me, fulfill me, 
with love and bright, wonderful wisdom.

Surely i have chosen you, mine mother
and you mine father, also,
to see me as i learn to see,
to protect me as i reach to attain 
the full measure of my senses.
Keep me safe from pain.

i am a fountain of new breath.
i am all hope fully realized.
i am new to you and to myself as well.
i am, only yesterday, umbilical.
Come grow as you watch me grow.
Grow with me.
Be kind and good forever.
i am your Child.
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A Child is...

A Child is 
a moment of sunshine
forever illuminating the inner 
hallways of our existence.

A Child is
the answer to all we are,
the solution 
to all we would be and are not.

A Child is 
responsibility defined, 
the perfect symmetry
of reward foreshadowing deed.

A Child is 
proof positive of worth, 
when the questions come falling, 
"Who am I?"  What have I done?"

A Child is 
a keeper of promises, 
indeed;  a Child is 
a beautiful promise kept.
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A Child Make

What wondrous eyes
the tiny sleeping giant
come falling now
and waking down
flesh in the palm of your hand
frail continent beginning

You must become lost
in a far wilderness of love
wander that wild place
for a sprinkling of years
learn to grow smaller
suffer gladly
the eclipse of self

What wondrous eyes
a birthing makes
comprehension without language
love without shame
You have been blessed this day
by the making of its name
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If i Father  

So....  i have watched each of you sleep,
tasted the perfect bloom 
of your sweet Child breath,
thought of myself 
as your great protector,
the keeper of precious fragile flames.
i chastise myself as i watch you awaken
into the dawn of your youth,
into the embrace of young adulthood.

i listen to your stories 
as told one to the other and others,
your voices pure and beautiful 
as fine silk,
texture my ears may touch.

As i listen, i know you have suffered,
been staggered by sullen blows of doubt.
i know you have been afraid of me, 
your father,
that i might come crashing 
through those doubting walls,
to discover you 
with the ghosts of your imperfections.

In the night, voices do speak to me,
the tiny ones of those of you 
who have come to go
and those who are still here
but grown past the child whispers 
i aspire to hear.
i answer them 
with selfish humble tears in my eyes and sympathy
for what has passed in my breathing,
for they are the protectors 
of my imperfections.
i tell myself I have done my job well,
for you need me less now 
than ever before
and never as much as i imagined 
in the feeble throes 
of my attempts at perception.
The far echoes of tiny voices
ring down the spiral canyon of my years.
They speak to me 
in the perfect symmetry of Childhood wisdom.
They fairly embrace me to stand.

There are those who say i talk to myself.
They are right, of course,
for you are myself, 
the very one i was addressing,
the one i have become.
i may answer a question from a score 
of years gone by and by as i watch 
my daughter with her daughter
or my son making words to speak
to a brother twelve years his junior.

i am your father,
that is all i am...  compleat.
You give me the strength of your pride,
the beautiful revelation 
of the knowledge of our shared imperfections,
through it all, 
carry me to a place of unconditional devotion, 
love without fear, lighting candles 
in the dark corners of my soul.

i am made to be free, a man.
You have been 
and remain the perfect sentinels of my journey.
If i come to see beyond the shadow,
If i come to walk into and through the fire,
If i come to feel, to love and be loved,
If i father.
----------------

Father To Son To Son

Twenty-five years 
i've shared this day with you
close to a month of yesterdays
They add up to much more than that
the totality of my existence

Sometimes it hurts to look back
pictures of you 
with my tools in your hands
instruments of my music 
in your embrace
but it hurts pretty damned good

i am gone full circle and more
as i watch you with Tristen
the perfect mirror of fatherhood
reflected in the pure joy on your faces

Oh life has been good to me
that i should have such a son
and he should have such a son
and we should have each other
----------------

Father to Father

Feel the soft down 
on your Child's skin
Try not to hold your breath 
as you look into the eyes of self.
Behold the small hands, 
larger than the whole of you.
What wonderful new promise 
your future holds.
You will learn to teach...  
walking and talking, peek-a-boo.
But first 
you will learn the beautiful lesson 
of unconditional love,
experience fears and tears 
that never bothered you before.
You will learn to give completely of yourself.

When that small hand 
first grips your finger,
you will appreciate a new reality, 
an awesome responsibility,
a depth of feeling 
you never dreamed existed.
It's quite natural to be afraid.
Fear is the temper of our mettle, 
a bit of steel 
to see us through the journey ahead.
i come now to offer congratulations, 
to shed a few tears of joy.
i will always try to be there 
when you need someone to talk to
or when i require 
companionship and conversation...
father to father.
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