The Last Few Days Before Christmas

At the big box store every parking space full,
the cart full of rain, the store full of souls
anxious to find just a gallon of milk
to make it through morning, David, almost a year,
looks at the ceiling, as far away as faith--
all white, light after light.

I know children ask us to see, a cliche.
But this is my baby.
For five fallow days, he has cried.
So if he stops in Fred Meyer, the cereal aisle,
if he tips his head back, glows with his grin,
if he says, can I get an amen? I say amen, amen.

Deborah Bacharach

Arts & Letters Fall 2009


P.S. Sorry about that cliche without an accent. I couldn't figure out how to make it work in journalscape.