it comes a gentle
but insistent pressure
your son wrapping
his arms around your legs
like the tree of life
pressing his face
against the very place
he doesn’t know
he came from
the patient who asks
for more of your time
with only their eyes
the tide pulling you
swell by swell
further from the shoreline
and no matter
how busy
how impatient
how depleted
you are
everything falls
except what presents
for your attention
in that moment
so it comes
what makes you put
the pen in your hand
what makes you write
the words on the page
Morrow Dowdle
Hillsborough, N.C.
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