Guy

If the letter was awkward
My emotions were not.
There was more curiosity
Than anxiety.

Thirty years have passed,
And I don’t remember how, or if,
I loved him,
This man-child.

His response, which I’d suspected
Would not be forthcoming,
Was the work of a mature mind,
And offered reason.

Will the person I parented
For most of his pre-college years
Care to extend my initial query
Into a long distance dialogue?

Our paths are not likely to cross unless
One of us really wants that to happen.
He writes that I was a hard task master.
Yes, I was responsible, but that should never be enough.

Both his letter and his picture
Speak of eons and metamorphosis.
I did not ask if he, even part-time ,
Continued his art.

Is he happy or resolved?
Has life shown more sun than shadow?
For my sake I hope his journey
Has put him in a place of warmth.