postilla

Self-Portrait by Tré (4.8 years)

T is tall
for his age,
rarely vocal,
always towers
over 3 other boys,
speaks with his hands
but today he says,

"My brothers had beer on the weekend".

Did they let you taste it?

He dis-plays
the socially acceptable
non-response
and quietly drops
his chuckling gaze.

T is all hands,
all arms and fingers
combing the air
with premature irony,
aware that words
are just a footnote
to his childhood.

Instead,
he depends on sight,
a baby-king of senses
who surrenders to it
knowing that the human body,
like other organisms,
lives by touch.

On T's flip side,
all is seeing
and seeing
is all.

But o
to gently tip T up
to the rim of the wheel
on which Heaven spins
and imparadise him
in pure childhood
for just a little longer.