My Little Boy - Poem

My Little Boy

Dark desert

Wet street

Recent rain

Bare feet

No light

Stars bright

He walks

Alone.

I see him now.

Hair tousled but not

With Sunday morning love

A child, maybe four

He runs out the door…

Because for this child

There’s more.

Swooping down from the omniscient sky above and behind him

I can see

On this dark road

Between Cheyenne and Laramie

A teddy bear

Vigilant button eye

Spies behind

Ready to warn

The road weary child

Of impending...

The bear feet

And bare feet

Are torn

Pebble worn

Soiled jeans and

T-shirt too light

Even in daylight

This boy keeps walking -

Walking the dark highway

Walking.

He doesn’t see the stars

Instead he sees the wet street

Tears leaving streaks

There are no cars.

Looking left

Then looking right

He is encircled by

Cavernous

Eternal

Emptiness

Oh the questions in this young soul’s eyes!

How did he get here?

Why did this loneliness happen?

This falling through all things…

What Being thinks this is ok?

He feels no support

Lost and bereft…

And then at that point

When all hope seems lost

The teddy bear in

His dirty right hand

Pulls him, gets heavy

The boy

The weary traveler

Looks down towards his only companion

And there in the ditch

He sees

An apple.

--Eric Marley

June 2013