A Poem to Son

In 1986 I was in my office after having just spent a few moments with my two sons, David and Bryan, then about 8 and 4. They had come into my office to find out what I was doing. They were excited about an upcoming camping trip in our motor home.

It was one of those many magical father/son moments.

After they left and I watched them walk across the deck into the house, I reflected back to the days I met them. I realized how their births, and my new role as their Dad, had brought me closer to understanding existence as a repeating cycle. My role as father, and theirs as sons, and the changes in those roles might well be an ever-going process.

I now think of my granddaughter, Elly and this poem comes back to me. I believe my thoughts, then, spanned even today. I say “he” in the next to the last line of the poem – but it is true no matter if a he or she. Makes no difference:

A Poem to Son

I watched … as you were born.
You, my tears, I knew not where
the YOU from other times so near;
Lamented then; so welcomed here.
I cried … when you were born
They saw; I really didn’t care
Our bond was old that moment there
A flame so warm, my feelings bare
I loved … as you were born.
Her strength: from where I didn’t know
A fruitful bond; our lives in flow
Her source, her light, her loving glow
I lived … as you were born
That perfect bond of us as souls
Our common mesh of basic goals
and YOU, restored to newer roles.
I soared … as you were born.
That ageless drive I always knew
My love for life, restored anew
A simple thing, now clear to view.
I KNEW … as you were born.
For as I watched a soul came free
Your life, our times, would always be
For now I sensed Eternity!
and GREW … as you were born.
You passed a Father’s role to me
While it sleeps the many years in thee
Until renewed in times to be
As you’ll see when he is born
As I saw as you were born.

Ken Risley 1986