Lessons from the Wise

2020

You refuse to fall asleep without me next to you

Stroking your Teletubby nose to the nearby lullaby

Playing over the theme song of emperors and concubines down the hall

I learned to be

Patient

I abandon Science midway to meet you in the bathroom

Holding your pants at arms lengths while scrubbing you both under the cold tap

Purposefully avoiding my toes as I handed you back to your teacher

I learned to remain

Composed

You fumbled with the wheelbarrow across the field while your peers galloped past

Making way through the cheering crowd

I turned red at my burning cheeks as I helped you finish last

From then on, I vowed my love would be

Unconditional

I once argued with you based on my birthright as the eldest child

Realizing my logic belonged to a previous dynasty, I apologized begrudgingly

Hugging you tight as you cried for justice prevailing

My ego learned to kneel and remain

Humble

Your shiny armor pales next to my battered titles weary from defending her queen’s castle

Yet in your stuttering and reticence, you remove a brick from your unfinished library

And gift it to the neighboring kids so they too could train their knights to leap in L shapes

You showed me how to be

Generous

I’ve left home for six years now and I admire the portraits of you whenever I come visit

While I age in dog years, you grow in human years and your mind inches like a tortoise

I lay on your bed with my head on your soft tummy pillow just like we used to

I wanted your warmth and

Comforting

You take a stroll with me after supper along the inky moat that secludes our shoreside home

I’m afraid of dark open spaces so I hold tight to your arm

You ask me how I’ve been living far away, what I learned from mis-taking charms for a Prince

Together I looked bluntly at my past year and chose to be

Brave