To Geoffrey

Just yesterday
You took your first steps
Across a barbershop floor
And defended a fort under the branches of a fir.
You smiled with a broad grin
Under Buster Brown bangs
And the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.
You invested your days in blocks and books and ideas
And drank from the world with the thirst of a child.

Today
You stand before me
Eye to eye,
Still a child, not yet a man.
But, the man is there, waiting –
His time will come.
Sometimes, I’d like to send him away
To prevent the loss of someone precious and still too fragile –
Someone I will never be able to replace.
But, more often now, he tempts me
To share new ideas and dreams –
To rejoice in the discovery of the man he will become.