Meus Poemas / My Poems
some of my work over the years
Poems for my son over the Years
A Year of Saturdays
The world can’t possibly end this week.Let me tell you why. You see, the other day, at least for at least a few minutes, anyway,I thought you were going to be 34.I had forgotten that I had changed a code that used your birthday and so I consulted it, and Without thinking I entered it instead, and for a moment, the calculator told me thatyou were younger, than you are. And I thought “Oh no! We don’t want anyone to repeat this past year, now do we?”Even though,This past year has been a lost one, and Like many,I’m easily confused about time and space; and sometimesIt’s worse than, say “Hmmm… Now where did I put my keys?”Because it’s beenA year of Saturdays.I can go outside on a Wednesday, and our streets are empty, and the stores are closed, like it once was here on a typical Saturday afternoonAnd things haven’t really changed inside our shell either, though our Plants are a little bit grander, And one can see that the dust is a bit more prevalent, And the tides of laundry and dishes still come and go. And, It’s all just, well, one day to the next. But I can say with assurance that it is your birthday this week. At least I think it is, no, now that I mull it over a bit, I am quite sure it is because the BBC´s “This Week in History”, You can see the Challenger, and I heard myself saying to Milton, “Oh look, there is the Challenger, it must be Spencer’s birthday this week!”And I caught myself, thinking, has it all come to this? As year after year, things have gotten progressively weirder and stranger until, Now, we have all been hunkering in our homes for a year.Where the thought of exploding spaceships, no longer astonishes anyone anymore. And nowA year of COVID, and zooms,and fires, And there are those that reacted, “Oh yeah, a coup…”Yet,Just the thought of a grandson and a new granddaughter elevates the spirit, andkeeps me alive and feeling good and safe, because, as long as there are children and Legos and diapers and laughter and hugs, out thereOh and cake, there must be lots of cake!All is right!Besides, the world can’t possibly end this week, it is not in my google agenda!So, what was I possibly thinking?So, 35 it is!Ouro Preto, MG January, 2021