6th
Birth I wasn’t there When you were born. I was in a parking lot At L.L.Bean When we got the call. I was in Maine. It was four months after She passed away When you were born. It was two months later When I met you. Pepe and I drove to Virginia, My second time there. (There will be other times To describe the first.) One brilliant short week And then back to Maine. And then one month And then a long time Before we parted again. A very, very long time. The best time Of my life. The first year Of your life. *** 1st The Breakfast Club Gave you the bucket hat On your first birthday. You loved your time With them, A whole suite Of grandparents, Including Charlie, The oldest, The most frail, But you kept him Somehow young, For that brief moment in time. You toddled, And you blossomed; I don’t know, This whole year Floated along somehow, And so much seemed So natural. *** 2nd And in September We traveled up to Maine To stay with Pepe For a year And Mommy went To Korea Into a phone, And thi