Skyscraper

“We’re in a skyscraper, daddy!”
The innocent view of a two-year-old
watching the world from a window
twenty-two stories from the ground.
A vacation in a new exciting place.
Showing daddy’s friends how crazy
and cool he could be for two whole days,
but now, it’s time to go.

Daddy’s toys litter the room. A new game,
finding items one by one and bringing them
to me as fast as he can. Trying to help fit
everything into one bag until it overflows,
threatening to explode back out on the floor.
He bounces his weight on top of the bag while
I pull the straps that hold it closed. Once it’s
finally complete, he sits on the bag in triumph
as one last picture of happiness is taken.

The next morning the excitement is gone
replaced by tears and screams, begging
in the shadow of a skyscraper for me to stay
as daddy and his friends load a bus to leave
him behind. I watch the building fade into
the horizon, then I focus on coming home.