Treasure
A poem
Published in
Jan 13, 2024
A down of needle-soft pine,
two pairs of feet-
today she is learning to walk.
Somewhere,
dusty shelves are occupied by paper-thick textbooks
telling of men who
pissed their names into the earth,
the letters carved
by the weight of the gold they hoarded
by the ghosts of the fools who died on their behalf.
They call this greatness.
Tonight, at dinner,
she stuck to me like a barnacle
then,
satisfied that she is everything I’ve ever wanted,
she ran laps around the kitchen
beaming a smile as wide as the sun.
I will not forget that for ten thousand lifetimes.
I would not trade that moment
for every gilded promise in the world.
