Lemon Icing
                                        (after Auden)

About suffering they were never wrong.
How it takes place while dad smears on
The BBQ sauce, while mother adjusts
A cafe-style umbrella. Here, the boy rests
His cheek on the rim of a diving pool, squints
At the glazed trail of his sister's footprints
Lightening on the patio, the thin sun
Splintering on an inlet of grass. He's grown
Heavier even now. Just yesterday, he's sure,
He was almost 12. A fact, at 12, that's more
Like dream. A can of pop bobs half in
And out of the deep end before him. When
He raises, at last, both arms above his head,
The light floods from him in ragged threads.

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Copyright © 2017 Mark Cox All rights reserved
from Sorrow Bread
Serving House Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission