When Liam Greets the Day
When Liam greets the day he
Often starts to whinny—
He’s looking for his ninny.
Yes, it’s trite,
But he slept just like a baby
All the night.
Sweet Liam in the mornin’ is,
Calm, with skin a-glowin’, his
Happy chin a-grinnin’ is—
We’re so blessed.
I change the diaper, his
Mom gets him dressed.
As rain makes puddles glimmer,
Good Liam starts to simmer;
He hates the toenail trimmer—
Yells at mom.
His forehead waxes grimmer—
Storms have come.
If birth’s a brand new page,
And all the world’s a stage,
Who’d think that—God! Such rage
(He’s a mad guy)
Would show in tender age—
Why does he cry?
Then suddenly the storm is over;
We were in nettles, now in clover;
If he were just a little older
And could talk,
He’d say, “Mom, let’s take the stroller
For a walk.”
Our Liam, he prefers outdoors;
He likes the trees and forest floors;
We take him on extensive tours
About the town.
The backyard highway traffic roars
Calming him down.
But we don’t want to live outside.
Inside the filthy modern tide
Creature comfort instincts reside
Yet it’s not fair
To read our grown-up books and hide
Him from fresh air.
“Enough’s enough! Your diaper’s dry
There really is no need to cry.”
The bath is drawn; with several sighs
He brightly swims,
Then nursing coos and lullabies
Loosen his limbs.
The tender family’s driftin’ off
To dream the dreams poets rhyme of
I desperately suppress a cough—
Can’t wake the lad;
I’m thrilled that one day, soon enough,
He’ll call me “Dad”.
And that’s the very find
Disquieting the mind;
Parenthood walks blind
With a bundle.
Will Liam’s life be grinding
And disgruntled?
So tippy-toe with candle lit
I rose to write these lines of wit:
With all that I have read or writ
Accumulating knowledge
Remunerary use of it’s
What sends a boy to college.
--Dunstan Skinner, November 2006