A poem for my son (and a reminder for me)

There will come a time 

when this world

will bathe you

in pain.

Sometimes, you'll drown 

in it

Wondering--

if you can

remember what air 

or hope

tastes like.

And in the

thick heaviness

of all

that troubles

you

Somehow,

you'll raise your chin

out of 

the ocean of 

blue, black memory

and find air

and

breathe.

It is 

here

In the 

calamity of

this

moment,

You will find

your north and 

rise

in beautiful,

perfect

brokenness.