Sunday, November 7, 2010

Campus Martius

The talk of possibly ice skating in the future got me excited. Then I remembered this beautiful poem the mother of one of my past preschool students wrote:

I used to be afraid of dying.
a canopied nightmare wrapped in
rainbow sheets
soaked in fear of nothing and forever
Id jump out of my bed
and down the steps
into the arms of a mortal mommy
whose hugs would slow down my racing heart
It used to be the threat of nuclear attack
and that last chapter in the bible
that spun me faster than a top.
but death was a for-sure thing…
I knew life wasn’t all swings and slides
but
if old age meant rocking chairs and checkers
I could understand being tired of living/
still… death and its doneness were scary things
and infinity was a burning pyre of options.
There was nothing that I couldn’t imagine getting tired of…
until I saw your smile and your eyes bright and wild
as we ice skated in the middle of the city/
Facing Woodward and our future
u holding on to me
my hands sticking to the freezing rail
people passing in the streak that used to be my life/
I hold you up and let you fall
as my instincts tell me to
we leave only when our hands tremble from cold
my smile frozen/ begging for the warmth of yours in return
and the fear I felt now drips soggy and desperate
so vulnerable to you
so powerless to this force that entered my life
2 months early and right on time.
My winter baby
all cotton and down
You splash a cold breath on my life
as you release my hand
and wake me to renewal
I watch before you land
my young sprite
full of all things living and present
death so vacant and simple
an unworthy rival to the brown eyes peeking under your cap.

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