Be the Boat

Wednesday Prose Poem: what’s in a promise?

Photo by Nick Kwan from Pexels

Am I going to die? asks the child. And you say — no. Like a reflex, a knee jerk of despair. The idea of it a swell that would finish you.

Do you promise? Is what comes next. The guarantee from absolute authority,
which right now is you — as laughable as that is. You, with only the advantage of years, each one as unruly as the next.