for the last time. How many moments of wonder you brought
us that day for the first time? "Making you laugh," you would say
at age 5, was your reason for being and we laughed oft
enough. Earlier I would lift you high in the air while
listening to Over the Top from The Iron Man CD;
tickling your belly with my nose when the YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YAY-A-YEAH Part
came. And you would squeal with delight. Do you see
how you could lift me higher than I could lift you?
Imagination was our augmented reality. I played the dented iron giant
saved by your love for me from being a weapon. Years later
when my father was dying of a head injury caused by cancer
I would listen to the last song on the CD and remember our distant laughter
as the phrase: All will be well and all will be well and all manner of things
will all be well: embraced me. And all the best cowboys from Julian of Norwich to Pete Townshend
smiled in the promise kept: New Life.
