February 3, 1999

Jim Parker came to school last month

he’d been expected for days

my boy was some excited

he wanted a guitar

so we made him one, smallish

out of an old Kleenex box,

elastic and some cardboard

strips all taped together

and off he went

guitar, backpack, and some shades

after spending an evening

with a marker or two

tongue between his lips

adding life to daddy’s makings

smiling ear to ear

though not a dinosaur in sight

at times like that God’s best reward

is being father to a child like that

and to his sister

more recent to the scene

her babies clothed in her

old cast off undies

heaped upon her beds

my little long haired girl

her brother’s favourite friend

last night in her nightdress

her imaginings released

she became a bird

soaring ever graceful

upon our kitchen floor

to and fro

little legs

unencumbered

by schwebes

however short or long

God’s greatest gift

His allowance to love

without condition