For My Son, Walking Home from School Alone for the First Time. 18th June 2014
Today the boy will walk home alone
Here begins the shock of dissolving
The mother glue
The boy whose body I protected
Nourished
Defended from suggestions to
Remove
Held fast despite dire predictions
Then born, waxed like an apple
Squalling and strong
For 11 years the instinct
Gut pure and keen-bladed
Parrying snarks and criticisms
Of too boisterous, too clinging, too big, too small
That sticky hand, those sharp little teeth, curls and sturdy feet
Is almost as tall as me
Has moods, his own tastes and opinions
Is kind and thoughtful
Loyal
And has decided he’d like to walk home alone
Today begins the slow shock of dissolving
The mother glue
Reduced to enquiring about quantities of food ingested, sleep clocked, happiness enjoyed
Momentous though no bells ring
Only an ache and the skin crawl dread of knives, bad men, the stampede of traffic
Sudden loss.
Heidi James 