Poems From an Odd Person

Chocolate Orange

I close my eyes and see a man:

He's big and solid and steadfast,

He's immovable as a Druid stone,

But with a far more interesting past.

When I was a child, he was god,

Creating, steering, knowing all,

Stitched through and through with power and wisdom,

Woven with bare honesty to his core.

And I loved him. My neck would crane

To strain to look up at his smile,

The blue-eyed gaze, love-filled and proud of us,

Laid open, yet secret depths all the while.

I was his shadow; albeit small,

I would absorb, learn and listen,

Closely guarded, nurtured and protected.

Ever careful that nothing was missing.

With time, he let slip some secrets,

And gratefully I stored them all,

My respect still grew, but with sadness at

His sadnesses and chances lost when small.

I open my eyes and see him,

He's big and solid – I am grown,

Less need of that nurture and protection,

And I now have a shadow of my own.

No more is he immovable,

His pride is unpicked to display

A new and shining honesty:

He can speak words he would once never say.

And I still love him. I still learn

From the face where his life is mapped,

And with pleasure I can outwardly smile –

This man is finally, tapped and unwrapped.