I was such a monkey child
Climbing up on the swingset
And turning somersaults over the bars
Leaping onto the kitchen counter
And tightroping across the narrow ledge
of the front of the sink
To get to the cabinets on the other side
As a baby, barely a toddler
Climbing on top the old upright piano--
The one that was your great-great-grandmother’s--
Just barely a toddler, all by myself, proudly
I’m a big girl now!
“Who put that child up there?” my dad demanded,
Nobody in sight.
Nobody but me.
“I did it! I did it!” crowing proudly
My dad sighed and lifted me down
And I started right back up.
Today,
I hold tight
Feeling vertigo
At the depths,
The chasm beneath my feet
Praying to God
To hold my hand
And get me safely across
To give me the courage
to look ahead,
Not down.
My Father in Heaven,
He’ll shake His head and say,
Musingly,
“Who put that child up there?”
And let me go as far as I can.
Then gently lift me down
To safety again.
©3/16/2015 L.F. Haynie