BOYHOOD
Safe and secure
with a mother’s comfort,
Out like a wind
into a child’s garden
of meaning,
of symbol,
of games.
Out in the garden
a girl is playing,
tossing him flowers in rain
as the summer smells fresh
Or in thunder.
Children at loveliness
children at play
But their bodies had grown,
demanding their strength
for entering inside
For building,
For nurturing:
"Open me wide as you know me!"
Children’s play
in the adults’ day
With disdain he complained:
My mother
she works in an Office!
Show me the place
where the Pegasus graze
I’ll go with you!
May 1997*