"6:12"
Patrick Phillips

My heart swelled inexplicably
when I turned the key

and caught the scent
of something lovely, coming from the kitchen.

I dropped my loaded bag
and clowned a heart-attack

when my son came running from his room
and gripped my thumbs, and balanced on my shoes.

And as I broke into our nightly dance—
his graceless, middle-aged old man,

I knew: that I will be content
if this is all the heaven that we're granted.


--


well this poem is so lovely, I love father-son poems. this is what I want to see in my future family, that one day I will accidentally stumble upon my husband and my daughter/son, them building a toy car, them playing soccer, them dancing around the living room. I feel like then and there I will feel all the happiness in the world culminated in that moment, that life will feel complete, even if I happened to be weighing 80kg by that time. I'm going to be one of those parents who take a million pictures of their kids through the ages. by the way I think I would like a boy