Today's poem is by Tom C. Hunley

Dear God, Show Me How to Walk in Wonder
       

Dear God, when I watched my firstborn
          being born, I thought, at first,
  he looked like a carp, hooked and gasping,
          and I was struck dumb, as silent as You.

My son couldn't speak for years,
          and when the doctor said Autism
  I couldn't speak, and forgive me,
                    I turned my head from him.
I know You'll understand. Forgive me
          for reminding You how You turned Your head
                    while Your son hung there.

Sometimes, God, I stumble like a foal,
          a fool, a fawn, a phony. I fail, I fall,
    I, who taught, by tall example,
          my children to walk.

Sometimes a wolf steps out of woods
          and I need new words
    to ward him off
          because the words I have
                    have dried up in my throat.

Dear God, show me how to walk in wonder
          toward You and knock me over
                    when I walk away from You
          but let me let my children
                    walk away from me.

Just remember the names I gave them:
          She Who Fills My Head And Heart
                    With An Unshakeable Ache;
  He Who Beats Drums And Beats Me At Ping Pong;
          He Who Slaps The Bass And Cracks The Jokes;
and He Who Ventures Far Into The Cold
                    To A Place Inside Himself
          That No One Else Can Ever Enter.
                    Not even I can go there,
                              but I believe You can go there.
                                        Dear God, please go there.

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Copyright © 2023 Tom C. Hunley All rights reserved
from Michigan Quarterly Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission