THIRTEEN

...just a few thoughts after a conversation with my son last night. His poor face so full of anguish and fear. All those tears. What's a mother to do?!?

 

 

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.

Reviews

[Lisa]

I really like this. It sounds alot like my son. It's amazing to think someone so young would already think about death. Thus is the boy. Very beautifully put together. I especially love the descriptive details. Angel-kissed freckles. Very beautiful. I haven't heard that term in years! Very real, it makes me feel as though it were son again! Great job!

[Collette]

This is a beautiful piece.

"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."

Your descriptive technique is perfect! Not overly-complicated, but simply beautiful. It made me smile when I read it.
Thank you for sharing.

[Daryl]

Carrie, I like the musing, meditative way this flows, always coming back to "13". It's a beautiful expression of the thoughts and questions so many of us have had, and to which we have no answers.