Nicholas turned eleven two
Months he ago a he ago
I after him a-running still

But quietly and far away


For the first time turned far away

Without me or without that day

Me seeing him on all the bright-

ness gone the day the snow had gone


Completely gone as we have gone

Who were the worlds we walked far down

Into our lives without each oth-

er as snow into earth as water


Goes into earth and as the water

Touches the roots the dry roots wait for

A signal from the sun and air

And do not green the shoots and what


The water thought it was and what

I thought I was we learn we're not we're

Life but not always life and not

Forever he grows without his father

About this poem
"Recently, my son moved to Texas with his mother. His most recent birthday was the first birthday we've spent apart."
-Shane McCrae

About Shane McCrae
Shane McCrae is the author of "Forgiveness Forgiveness" (Factory Hollow Press, 2014). He teaches at Oberlin College and lives in Oberlin, Ohio.

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The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.


(c) 2015 Shane McCrae. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate