30/11: For Aiden (on his birthday)

2007
He will not be
defined

this child of
mine, won’t


Acquiesce
to expectation, won’t

Bend

to calculation, won’t

Accede control
to another, not

even his mother
.

He is
strong-willed, my
boy just

like his mother, just

like is grandmother,
just like 
his
great-grandparents.

It’s amazing
what runs
through 
the
double helix,
through

time, through
cells and air, through
bloodlines 


Amazing how a boy
in the womb knows
exactly who he is, whom
he loves, when

it’s time, not
too early, not
too late, just

exactly when.


It’s time.

2011
And now you are four.
Beautiful
mischievous child.

Unbending, unyielding,
still not
to be
swayed.
You know
exactly who
you are,
know exactly
what you need.

There is a
spark in your eye
that that betrays
neurons firing,
thoughts weaving in
and out of each other
birthing new thoughts. 

I imagine roadways
snaking expanses
beneath your thick 
head of hair.

I picture
a network of cities,
and in no time at all,
galaxies.  
Somewhere in this
transaction, we strike
a deal. My beautiful
perfect boy
of temperamental
ways and fascinating
notions, I have your
back for as long as
you have my heart.

Which is
to say, I will
love you always.
And always,
always,
I gotcha.
I gotcha good.