(5)
What the Man-Moth fears most he must do.
–Elizabeth Bishop
How did we get
from a boy in a check dressing-gown
and Jedi sword…to here?
So much safer
to be a pianist or read
political theory, Marx and Hobbes…
This first day in his working life,
he is nervous, excited,
and play along I must.
Wish I could cast a swathe in front of him,
wield a sword left and right,
slay every monster in sight.
That little boy who needed only
Jaffa Cakes & me for his power,
could have been a saxophonist, a cricketer,
an artist, or actor or chef.
But, just like his long-dead dad,
my son is a man
and a doctor today.
That’s what makes it
a morning I’ll never forget:
the morning he first embarks
on slaying a real monster,
sword in his hand.
Afric McGlinchey
I am indebted to the Arts Council for funding a project to write poems during, but not necessarily about, the lockdown, and to share them on my blog. I am writing these narratives in response to stories given. Thanks to my cousin Lisa for this one.
Photos courtesy of Lisa Cronin-Cusack.
