I Thought About A Gift. (Revised) Poem by R.A. Burleigh

for your Highschool graduation
in the deepest silence of my fooldad heart
eureka, Yreka, Wilderville, I shouted
at times lost in memories
I wanted to please and impress you
I wanted you to love me more
I dreamed that I would give you my most precious possession
I looked around the rooms where
pictures, books and old hearts lived
I picked up baseballs, cameras, colored shirts
and two or three small jewels
all green and tumbling went my eyes
it was the photos which reminded me of
your spoken words of joy, of education
of searching for beliefs that would enoble others
were more precious than all those wrappings
I piled up the words
I made a list of all the wonderful things you said
I heard you talking to a horse
I heard you singing to your brother
I listened while you read a second grade book
I heard you talk of Christ and love
I lay in the grass and wandered among the stars with you
you came to me from your mother, you went to her from me
and each time you said a newer thought

when I was exausted I knew it was time to sleep
waiting with more words, and somewhere between dreams and waking
I knew there was more to you than I could find
somewhere there were children inside you
there are homes and buildings I will not know
there are travels I will guess about, there are lovers and magic

I had a little laugh, I had a little cry
I went into the woods singing about you
the Magi had a gift, whoever they were
they brought their wonder to a stranger

I climbed a tree, with your brothers and sister hidden in me
and saw the mighty rivers that go on forever
I trembled and seemed to remember your mother telling me
her fears about your birth
and Robert Frost, that old man who has been our library neighbor for so long,
said there are still miles to go
hiw did he know that, I ask you


RAB