Holding Flight

I went to the porch

As the evening crept in
For a quiet place

Away from the kids

To savor a bowl of ice cream

But found that my clanking spoon
And indulgent mood
Seemed as out of place
In the reverent solitude
As slurping it down
While a bride and groom
Pledged their vows

Before me stood the solemn pines
Piously still
Regarding the copper-lined horizon
Where it brushed
The deepening sky

Rows of corn leaves
Rippled and shushed
The new June fireflies
Bobbing and flickering
Like children in the pews

In the indigo blue
Presided a crescent moon
Excusing their impropriety
And mine

I gulped quickly, guiltily
And found I was relieved
To slide my bowl behind me
And join the worshippers

From the black horizon
Rose a mighty bird
And gently beat his powerful wings
Across the length
Of bronze-edged trees
With such beauty
That my heart pleaded
For him to stay

But I knew that my awe
Was in his flight
In the sun's fading rays
That beauty stayed
Becomes a bore
Ingraspable change

Both thrills and pains

The soul

Upstairs in their beds

Lay five children now still

One with one less tooth
And one with two more than last week
As I kissed their summer-short hair
Smelling of chlorine
And Grandma's backyard
My heart pleaded for them to stay

But beauty stayed
Becomes a bore
It is their change
That both thrills and pains
My soul