I have a new baby grand
not piano, a little boy man
born as the church was about
to start the O antiphon.
He brings the blessings to 13
an embarrassment of riches for me
a luckier Omi on big blue marble
there never, ever, never could be
It's hard or maybe impossible
to express the joy you are to me
for a kid who existed on sufferance
to be grandmother to so many
I wish I had known in then time
when I seemed to bring no one joy
that the day would arrive when
I'd be given this shiny bright boy
a foretelling of his star plus
12 stellar lights around him
a prophecy of our own constellation
would have lit those days so grim
days of winter with no Christmas
So little summer sun back when
Even Lake Michigan refused me
Nothing much to celebrate then
I had such big ideas, Cassius
the world was my oyster you see
I was sharp smart and gung ho
but there was so much denied to me
horizons artificially narrowed
my firmament shrink wrapped
it's hard to reach potential
when your resources are tapped
Despite a major recession
I did push my boat out to sea
In the crappiest car on the planet
I made it to Grand Valley
I'd have liked to go further
but not enough on board family
yet grandad said with pride that I
was the first to make university
I wish I could tell more about
great Omis and Opis of your'n
but I know so very little
not even where they were born
Think of that, my baby
Omi never asked our people
it would have been so easy to
inquire about their nativity
Perhaps you see, being closer
to the womb than me
why did I take for granted
they'd live eternally?
It's a sad mistake to think
that they'll all always stay
They'll always be here for us
and never ever go away
I wish that was true, Cassius
If wishes were horses we'd ride
I'd ride with you forever
If from passing time I could hide
So ask your questions now
before we olders must fly away
I wish I'd asked my Omi
She said I'd regret it some day
My boy, this is going to
a long away far ago time
and farther away than that
And you can't visit what was only ever mine.
And as Kahlil says I can only
visit where you'll inhabit in dreams
you live in the place of tomorrow
and I sadly can't go there it seems
but I can dream a world for you
where time won't let me know
with no press and sealed skies
and oceans wide places to go
May you walk with chutzpah
and fully inhabit your shoes
don't hold back, dive in, honey
you've only adventures to lose
If this saddens anyone let it
be me and never you, I hope
you're maxing out your youness when
you read these words that I wrote
Love, to Future Man from back then Omi
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