King Thomas the First

Hands upraised, and eyes defiant

Impatient fingers tap a beat

The lifting up to be enthroned

The waiting arm of grandpa’s seat

The regal gaze around the room

Head turning, taking in his band

Of breathless subjects, poised to leap

Upon the child kings command

Dominion of his room secured

And fealty firmly in place

A transformation quick ensues

Once snuggled in PawPaw’s embrace

The laughter pure, the restless play

Conspiracies of partnered joy

The monarch earns his crown anew

By being just a precious boy

The room revolves and moves again

The adults do what adults do

Old man and child retreat inside

Their special covenant of two

Great matters of the world dissolve

The daily needs, the rush, the grind

All fade to insignificance

The grasping world left far behind

There is a language and a pace

Uniquely in such moments shared

Where time is captured and preserved

Where love's great gift is fully bared

There are a thousand ways for man

To show and feel love’s tugs and hooks

A thousand names for each of them

A thousand rhymes, a thousand books

But nowhere is a love more sweet

More unpolluted and secure

Than when a child’s child rests

Atop his grandpa, safe and sure