(Also, Baxtalo Mumbliego Dives AKA Candlemas, Imbolc, Goundhog Day)
Aquarius dawned
Brought you home in a blizzard
Icy heart melted…
© 2016 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
sons
WAR NEVER FAR
When sons were young
Sibling competition getting ugly
Decided to spend a separate hour with each
Worked well, they got to choose what to do
One day my youngest
Wanted to draw
He drew a cannon
I covered it with flowers
He drew a ball shooting out
A few lines by me made a peace sign
In frustration he cried,
“You’re ruining everything!”
***
Shocked, I stopped the politics
Didn’t do pregnancy and labor
So my sons would one day go off to war
In the too-near future
Although their grandpas, cousins, uncles
Fought in Germany, Vietnam and the Gulf
Yet such an innocent game
As drawing together
Turned into a 6-year-old’s anger
***
Tucked away that picture
Still have it in my book of memories
Placed a blank piece of paper between us
Drew a cannon with balls shooting out
Into the infinite
(Resisted adding a rainbow and stars)
He was happy, I was happy that he was happy
Someday he would make a personal decision
I would support whatever it would be
But will never forget my 60s bumper sticker:
“War is not good for children and other living things…”
© 2015 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: CANNON OF PEACE, royalty free
