I See You

My son is 13 tomorrow, so this is my NaPoWriMo Day 23 poem. Technically, you could say that I followed the PAD prompt for Day 23, though I was going to write this anyway.

I see you

In the car

That day before the school started

Your eyes wide with fear.

I see you

In your room

Whispering to your toy puppy

Do you still tell him your secrets?

You are three years old now

Learning the alphabet from fridge magnets

Asking endless questions.

You are sitting in my lap

Fiddling with my earrings,

I have just come back

From a trip.

Now it’s winter and you are

Playing with your toy computer

Getting all the numbers right again

The penguins dance on the screen

And you clap your hands.

You are laughing

As you watch cartoons.

You are in the kindergarten, crying,

As I leave you there

You are crying as they cut

The umbilical cord, but stop

When they give you to me

I wish I still had that power over you.

I see you

Now

You are a teenager

You can open a Facebook account

Or get an email of your own.

You never spoke much

I have to feel you with my stomach

It is scary to have that ability 

And there must be

Something I can do

To keep you safe.