Soldiers
LISTEN NOW
Your father cut the eggy to
Where are the easy-over egg drop days?
Clambering over the stony walls
Above the swift herding brook and stream
Where barefooted you
Stumbled into your dropped-egg dreams
(Graham)
you christened yourself, unaided then
with your stumbling, mumbling
name
deceptively long inside
those tripping, sunflower seeded syllables
you dared to try your new two wheeler
foot and petal meeting
you fell indescribably in love
with raising your feet
upward into the breathable air,
momentarily undreaming,
the remarkably simple
moment of perfect joy
and in your sunny surprise
yours,
the feet,
pushing each petal
steady,
you,
in the hilltop park
wheel turning to the rhythm
of your unretreating smile
delighted then,
you were not tired
it was later,
when foot, after
willed movement of foot
you tred,
sped,
uphill
unfettered
feather light
then, in the lullaby
of a slightly bity,
sun sprinkling
spring
you rose,
effortlessly,
silently,
donating your smile to the sky
