My my how they've grown

those little ones with new and

weighty lives of their own

pecks on the cheek on arrival and departure

at our height, though we feel

the diminution  of age.

 

Grandchildren

already driving, commanding troops

with phones,  and it seems that

we are at the top and bottom

of all this splendour, emerging

from a sublime challenge, waiting for new flesh

to divide

and bones

for the great story to move on.

 

Then with a flurry of restrained relief

they leave us

with dishes to wash,

thoughts to pick through

all their new thrills, secret travails

fast moving trails of lives fresh

then more galleries of pictures will spread

like windows climbing to the sun.