for Julie
You got lucky, I guess: loving parents
who must have recognized beauty, keen mind,
the need for books and loose leashes, content
to let you try and fail, hoping you’d find
the right, rugged, unmarked rocks on that path
we somehow stumble with faith, fall surprised,
then rise, grit, and press on, sometimes with wrath
or sorrow, sometimes laughter, always prized
love, though often hidden as some treasure
we fear revealing will mean losing. I
don’t know this for sure, just sense it in your
deep eyes, the way they watch me, watch all. My
daughter’s an only child. I got lucky,
I know. She took me back. Sober’s the key.
Roger Armbrust
November 30, 2008
