So many storms later

Years from now,
I will tell you again
how much easier it would have been
to just say yes to everything.

I will tell you
about the day
I said you couldn’t
go to your friend’s house
until you had done your math.

You screamed in my face
and hated me so much
I could see it felt good
so you kept screaming.

Years from now,
you will be taller than me
so I will be leaning on you
as we look down at your own son
looking so peaceful
asleep in his little bed,
it will be hard to remember
how he had been like a volcano
earlier that day
shouting boiling hot rocks
all over you.

You will ask me
if you should have just
said yes.

I will look at you
a man now
so many storms later,

and I will take your hand
like we’ve always done
and I will say
as a wise friend once said to me,

it would be easier
to never let it rain on our children

but it would not be kind

for they would grow up
believing every drop
could wash them 
away.