ON HIS TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY

A foetus in my womb,
A babe in my arms,
A child holding my hands,
An adolescent stepping away
A collegian freaking out
Were you my son until this day.

A man you are today
No more from this day
The cocooning of my womb
The molly coddling of my arms
The clutching of my hands,
Or the panic of my fears.

Yet I promise always
The bending of my knees
The wisdom of my days
The openness of my mind
The love of my heart
And the distance of my pains.

How swift you run to the extent
of your mien
Your feet hastening eagerly to the fulfilling of your destiny.
Alas, I am neither fleet as before
nor strong as of old
So here I am preparing for your flight from me,
And your absence from our home.

So I call on you my son
To pause a moment
And ponder awhile
Of the time that is ahead
When it matters who you are,
Than what you do.

Prepare, my son,
For a time such as that
By setting your heart on high
To earn a name without blame
To seek the good and not the fame
And play fair the game.

Bolster your being with
The communion of the Supreme Being,
Ever live in the light of His face
And not in the glory of man’s gaze.
Walk to the cadence of your own beat
Than dance to the tune of your meet.

Seek to stand set apart
Far from the madding crowd.
Melt not with the teeming masses
Nor merge in to a molten (w)hole.
Walk a lonely path if need be
To fulfil the vision you are called to be.

See the need of those around
Sense the plight of those who are bound.
Be an answer to their helpless state
For their sorrow and sin to abate.
Christ has taught you of low estate
That’s needed to raise their meta state.

So my son bid farewell to the past
Embrace the present and hold it fast
Until the future is in your grasp at last.
Let His Word be your constant mate
His approval your constant sustain
And His Presence your mainstay.

My heart wants to hold to the boy
But time has come to release the man.
Oh how quick the passage of days!
Will he reject, will he refuse, will he ever retract
The care he can give when we our need reach?
Ah Lord, you are never ending source, our endless refuge & eternal reward!