I am a child again
With grandchildren
I have to play their games
Filling balloons with water
So they can burst
And jumping on the bed of course
My bed their trampoline
And giving them chocolate buttons
That’s a must
They give me hugs and kisses
When they leave me
Wave to me and smile
And say goodbye
I tidy up when they are gone
Sit down then awhile
Who’d have thought
My days would end like this
We do not know
The future of our lives
What joys what sorrows
Down that road may lie
Losing Margaret shattered me for sure
Lost and ill and then the worst – depressed
But restoration came in counsel wise
And now these boys the delight of my old eyes
I remember when my son
Was but a boy
What will I be when I grow up
He asked
In my mind’s eye I saw
A country road
Stretching to a distance
Out of sight
And so I told him what I saw
And said
On our road so much we cannot see
It’s far away and blurred
A mystery
But what is near at hand
Is very plain
That we see and that we can command
So do the things of now
And walk the road
And things ahead in time
Will then appear
It is foolish to build castles in the air
Or like that farmer
Barns to store your grain
Live the joys and sorrows of today
And be like children
Remember how to play
Brian Fahy
13 September 2021
Erris Poetry 