A  departure for me. Poetry. Free verse. It seemed to pour out of a place that was quite clear about the fact that this post needed to be more along the lines of poetry.

Our grandson, David, five years old, newly “graduated” from preschool yet still so completely sweet and vulnerable. Ready for school but not ready; at least not me, I’m not nearly ready.

So here is the poem:

Stay Beautiful, Golden Child (the last day of preschool):

Stay beautiful, golden child.
A child so gentle, tenderhearted, kind;
    Thoughtful beyond your years.
Polite to a fault; considering how others feel; 
  Empathetic;
    Compassionate;  
      Emotional savant.
Open spirited, vulnerable.

Stay beautiful, golden child.
You love your friends;
    Not nearly ready to say goodbye at the end,
    The moment too poignant for you to bear;
Your heart open, perched right there on your sleeve.
     Your speech so polite, so quaint, so formal:
    "Grandaddy, it was so good of you to come
    All the way here from North Carolina for my graduation!"

Stay beautiful, golden child.
You play with such abandon;
    You feel so deeply;
    You resist what you believe is injustice with deep passion;
    You cry because your feelings cannot be contained;
    You become frustrated because you do not understand.
So pure.
  So raw.
    So open.
      So accessible.
        So tender.
So beautiful. So golden.

You have soared through pre-K,
    And you are ready for school, so ready to learn.
But are we ready for you to learn what we know?
    Can we release you now to know and perhaps experience
    Injustice,
    And broken relationships,
    And pain?
This world needs you, David.
    This world needs your sweet spirit.
    But our need is for you to remain unbroken.

Stay beautiful, golden child....

Last day – and off he goes…