Seventeen
A Poem
Seventeen years to the day I saw your face for the first time A shining ray of light upon me My second beacon, a way home when I didn’t know what home was because home would always be you and your brother and us and all else disintegrated into the ether because with you two, I was full
Seventeen years of love, but not love, like a word or term of art A feeling so deep, drills would never find it Buried straight into the core of the earth The path of least resistance The path of most success because I am nothing if I am not your father
Seventeen years of understanding and trying to let you fly free but it’s so hard because I still think about that baby bird you once were, fluttering around in my arms, everything you needed in life was me and now you are grown, no longer a hatchling in need but a young woman and I am a fading star
Seventeen years of stars in my eyes that are endless, like the edge of space and the infinite love inside of me that transcends the minutia of life and makes everything else look tiny But you are no longer small You are a giant, ready to roam free and I am just your quiet guide the fallback until the end of time
My daughter turns 17 today. This type of love is a privilege.
© Jonathan Greene 2020
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