After the gavels and papers are put away,
life is pretty much as it was before:

you, blond blur, barreling through life
with first-grade abandon,
giggling and tumbling, shoelaces flapping,
run-by hugger, curiosity of whats-in-the-bag.

We guide your wave-cutting ship
into the same harbor each night;
but tonight, perhaps, it’s a little safer,
and on your prow, a new name.

It’s business as usual. It’s the same story,
continued, another reel of film.
The cast is the same, but the names are changed.
Black letters get shuffled on the back-lit marquee:
the long run of “Aunt and Uncle” has ended.

Now playing:
“Mom and Dad.”

01/28/2003

Posted on 01/29/2003
Copyright © 2025 Bruce W Niedt