POEM - If I had known you as a child...

We’d have met beneath the eclipse

And as we sat on the swings,

not watching it fail to end,

I’d have seen that earthy magic

in your eyes being born

  

We wouldn’t simply be best friends

The other kids would have carved our names

out for us, in the heart of some old tree,

which would seem young as we

held hands in front of it;

you and I, the hero and heroine

of one another’s innocence

  

You wouldn’t have learned to be so guarded

Crying your quiet heart out

in that lonely corner

would not have been a reality

Even through the bloodiest days

of unsound shouting,

I would have been there;

every character of the 100-acre wood,

ready to be your escape

at a moment’s notice

I’d have let you ride my grandmother’s horses

We’d have picked the summer berries,

and swum in mountain streams

She’d have painted you exactly as you are,

loving you for every reason that I love you

And the painting would still be hung

on my office wall,

a reminder that my favorite people

had a chance to interact

  

Your first kiss would likely go unchanged,

but perhaps your love life

would have been healthy much sooner

I’d have withdrawn

into that same fat kid’s isolation

throughout our teenage years

My kids might not even exist, yet I’d

have no way of realizing as much

And, assuming I came through

the suicidal shame of being me once again,

your last kiss would be a no-brainer

  

If we were introduced as children,

our adult intrigue would make far more sense

Still, why bother dreaming

of there being no need for Wonderland

when I already know how you take your tea?

This is what the universe willed for us

And so it’s up to us to make of things

what we think they should have been,

or must be