On Having a Child

Candlewicks protecting their flame from an onrushing storm . . .
someone asked me what's it like to have a kid
Nine days later, this is the best I could do,
unsure of who's protecting who.

Cameras don't gush over kids the way family
sometimes does, so we picture her,
day-by-day,
picking potatoes,
rapping with Hello Kitty,
crossing rope bridges that needn't be crossed,
and every picture tells a story better,
or fairer, than I could.

Not that every day should be photographed,
but, to address the question, perhaps they should.
Some days you cower like a sailor in a squall;
others you curse like one,
but for all the pratfalls, the bumbles,
the bumps and the scrambling,
life survives in spite of all -
a terrific trick indeed.