Down by the river, my little son
Is snapping twigs and tossing them
To see the runoff carry them away
I watch until my mind goes wandering.
“What’s that red stuff?” I hear him say
I look down, absently to see
His white star-fingers staining red
With a thing he has no word for.
The pain has not yet arrived
He is not afraid to touch and taste it
But I see the moment when it does
And I watch it change his face.
When tears are dried and wound is bound
I teach him the word for it
But the meaning of the word
Is the meaning of the world
And I won’t teach him that today.
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