Dad of Nine

Poems make Big Things easier to say.

Like handling a snake

or appearing in court

or doing a speech at a wedding.

The weight of the moment,

the act you must perform,

your duty to carry out the words which should to be said.

Me?

Happy and humbled to be the father of nine children.

A privilege and joy; a great responsibility.

A life-time task.

Enough to fill every hour and minute for the rest of life,

even for the most competent of parents.

The ecstasy of a nine-month-old standing for his first time, laughing;

gurgling, with eyes shining full of love.

And the heart-break of another charged exchange with your teenager;

a wild horse, now taller than you, eyes no longer full of love.

Yet you want yours to be;

and you hope they are.