You shout from the top
of the stairs
with the toothbrush
in your mouth,
I just need time
to write a decent prologue!
And it occurs to me for the first time
in that moment that the word
“tween” is from “in between”,
which you are,
as one of your gangly limbs
reaches for that other side
where childhood
no longer exists,
where you see ambitious dreams
fulfilled without the interruption
of grown-ups constantly telling you
to hurry up,
while the other
part of you
is not quite ready,
like later that morning at drop-off,
when we hid behind a bush
like we always do
so we can have our goodbye ritual
where you are still free
for one more day
to be small.