witness

we parents…we watch our children grow with wistful eyes and full hearts

bearing witness through the stages of life, as they run and float and fly

one day nursing a tiny wrinkled newborn…the next, it seems, standing by a grown son or giving away a bride

the days between fall, one by one, like autumn leaves, until we give our child to the world to carry on

but for this lingering son, there will be no wedding day, no firstborn, no flight from the nest

his life is different, yes, but his alone…and we who love him bear witness to that life, to his existence, to the meaning of it all

©2018