We are eating out of thermoses
after your swim lesson
when you quietly sound out
the word family
I alarm you by yelling
that you can read
which you can’t quite
because you guessed family again
for the word door
though it might have been
the pressure
I agree to a few minutes
in the playground on the way out
because we are late
but it is too sunny
to say no
and as I watch you climb
the chain link ladder
I am comforted
by how your legs wobble
how you want me to watch
you go down the slide
each time
and how you still get excited
to tell me exactly where
you are going to hide
and then seem to believe me
when I say I can’t find you
it is strange
this mothering business
I know you can’t stay small
and yet it aches sometimes
to help you grow
away.