I can’t remember when I lost my first tooth, let alone When it came in
I don’t remember being at Nana’s house Trying to walk and falling across the edge Of her old dark-brown wood coffee table Turning my 1 year old face into a mess of Blood and panic
I can’t recall much about being a baby That’s for certain! But when my son took his little tumble Off the living room couch This past Saturday
I instantly knew the fear of knee scrapes, bloody noses, Bumps on the head And every other little boo boo my boy will Possess through out is youth
And I am scared shitless!
I’m instantly terrified of that cool cat Who always cuts class and burns newports Outside science Talking in my boy’s ear about gangs and rights of passage Weed and chicks that “can get it” Or worse, my son being that cool cat Influencing his friends
Just like his dad…
Yes I worry that his bumps and bruises become Cuts and wounds That goes deeper than epidermis Breaking his sweet demeanor And adversely affect the pristine existence his mother and I carved out for him
I worry that he’ll drive from school and not make it to work I worry he falls out of his tree house and breaks his leg Or tears his ACL while dunking on Shaq’s eldest…
I mean, yeah he’s 7 months old But the boy is serious! He smiles at me every night with my lips and eyebrow motions staring back at me He conquered solids like Armstrong’s cycling And in his mind, crawling’s for babies… my bamma wants to walk!
and I guess my concern is
Will he be as angry with me as I was with her Will he leave to seek his fame and forget To call us here at home as much as I did after I escaped…
Will he be the man I am or the fool I was
Cause in truth, I went through it
I have seen more than I choose to Felt more pain than I should Caused more pain than should And cried more times than any one will ever know
But those bruises brought me here To him And if that’s my path I accept it