What makes you tell me, suddenly <br />That you love me, Pappy, <br />While we're inventing breakfast <br />On a late summer Saturday? <br />There must be a smile that was born with you <br />To elicit and surprise <br />The love of a father for his only child <br />Amid a confusion of eggs and grits <br />And the bacon smoke in our eyes. <br /> <br />Then later we're walking the avenue <br />On a summer Saturday afternoon <br />To the ice cream parlour on Main Street <br />Sticky hand in sweaty palm <br />A small white ribbon in your hair <br />Rainbow sherbert, vanilla apple pie <br />Taking turns with the flavours we can find <br /> <br />A prelude to your ride around the square <br />While I count to 30 and stand alone <br />Until you circle back, on your purple bike <br />Then I hand you a penny, no, make it a dime <br />To toss in the fountain by the corporate store <br />For you to make a ten-fold wish <br />In the late summer sunshine. <br /> <br />One day when you're older, perhaps <br />We'll go to Botswana and sleep under thatch <br />You'll play and cook with the Mochudi girls <br />And take the dusty trails to the general store, <br />Bring some water from the neighbourhood pipe <br />Balancing a bucket upon your head - <br />But I won't challenge you with this just yet <br /> <br />For we're home tonight, up the stairs <br />From the evening filled with shadowy streets <br />Hiding in your den of chairs and sheets <br />And tomorrow on awakening, Sabbath gone <br />You will launch a pancake bake <br />Berries on top, maple syrup besides <br />While waiting in your gold and cleats <br />You'll be practising coiffure upon <br />My long-suffering head of hair.<br /><br />Frank Bana<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/you-and-pappy-summer-weekends/
