13. this boy.

green eyes, that will one day make a girl's heart stop.

Wavy brown hair, that lays just-so.

angel-kiss freckles on his shoulders.

13. my son.

he is quick to laugh.

a smile with a flash of the braces

that are correcting the "over-bite" I find so endearing.

13. this child.

full of questions, that he thinks he knows the answers to.

full of life. Like most boys his age

he plays sports, has many friends, has a "love" interest.

13. he is 13 ,and he is obsessed with his own mortality!

He thinks of death and dying before he falls to sleep each night.

He cries out in his sleep, his voice full of fear and loathing.

Do I reassure him? Tell him he is too young to think such thoughts?

That he will live a long and full life?

Who am I to presume it will be so?

What do you say when they are 13 and already consumed with

the ticking of the clock?

13.

He is 13.