You were 3 and I read you
Peter pan
For the first time
And you decided you were a
Lost boy;
You belonged in
Neverland.
You played out all the parts,
Katie next door was your
Wendy
Daddy got to be
Captain Hook
And with a kiss upon my cheek,
You deemed me
Tinkerbell.
But then suddenly
You were 10
And you didn't want
To be
Peter Pan
You hated Katie –
She played with Johnny who
Had been a
"Shitty Smee"
And I grounded you for the
Words; you ran to your
Room and and slammed the
Door – the one that
Still read
Neverland,
Spray painted in black.
Your limbs grew
Too long for your
Body and you checked
Your pointed chin for hair
And you lifted Daddy's
Weights so you could be
Stronger than the rest of
the boys in 7th grade
and I wondered why
it mattered.
I found you a month
Ago with a box full of
Your childhood things,
Playing with the sleeves of a
Peter Pan
Halloween outfit from when
You were 5 and you looked
Up at me with big
Brown eyes that still
Had boyhood mischievousness
And without saying a word
You placed a tattered volume
In my hand; I sat next to you
And cracked open the
Worn cover – your head
Rested upon my shoulder.
You were 13 and I read you
Peter Pan
For the last time
Because the next morning
I found you broken
On the lawn,
Having decided you had
Enough fairy dust to
Make it to the 2nd starl
Here you were a
Lost boy –
An outcast boy and i
Had no idea that Katie
Said mean words behind
Your back and Johnny
Liked to punch you at lunch.
Now I sit in front of your grave,
With your name in bold carved letters
And I read your note over and over
"I'm off to
Neverland"
And I can't bring myself to cry,
Because you belonged there from,
The start.
©The Last Letter