Field Day

One of their favorite days of the years,
a time for smiles and a time for cheers,
voices loud and screams abounding,
competition and team support surrounding;
the sun beating down on their little backs
as swarms of competitors hurl their attacks,
they jump and run and duck and dive
in a setting in which they have never felt more alive.
The kids' competitive juices going
and the will to do whatever it takes flowing,
they are ready to win no matter the cost
and cannot even imagine the races lost.
This is the one day where they always
leave it all out there to remember for all days.
They laugh and joke with all in line
and revel in a time that could not be more fine.
As if far wiser than their days would suggest,
they revel in the moments that they will remember as the best.
They enjoy the times that they will later miss
but appreciate them fully in these seconds of bliss.
A day outside that is so much better today
than any day before it in every possible way,
they will not soon forget what they are currently so thankful for
as this field day seems serves as a launching pad for lives to show so much more.

A Four Year Old's Work

The wind blowing on my uncovered legs
and the hood hanging and pulling on my head,
my son sits to my right drawing our home.
He draws so peacefully, using every color but red.
He feels a bit of a breeze chilling his skin
so he goes to get his jacket like his daddy.
He asks questions so as to make his drawing
perfect in ways that would make me praise him proudly.
He pushes his little hands down on the paper.
He won't allow his art to be taken by the wind.
He switches colors time and time again
until finally he pulls the winner out of the tin.

He is onto drawing the bedrooms within his home
where he feels the safety and warmth so many crave.
His peaceful, satisfied, wide-eyed demeanor
sets him apart from those he'll later meet, so led astray.

He moves on from artwork piece number one.
He emerges from the house with a clean, white sheet.
Wasting no time that he doesn't have,
he allows his light red marker and paper to meet.
The marker, much like a magic guide, begins to direct
as his movements begin to come together to take shape.
Though others may see a four-year old's work of nonsense,
I see the scene he describes no less vividly than if I saw the very landscape.

The imagination sinister men and skeptics alike may mock
works for the boy who shows us all what we could be.
The lesson he teaches his dad is invaluable:
as long as you can interpret your own picture, it won't take others to make you happy.