SENSE.

All his faculties have been attacked this last week,

From the cough that makes his voice crack

To the lack of appetite

And streams of tears from eyes and nose;

His hearing has been closed a little

As he battles

With the rattles

In his chest,

And last of all his arms have been out-stretched

So much,

For cuddles,

That they ache

And take upon themselves

The weight

Of ailments raining down upon him.

But I am here:

Ever set to care and service;

Never met to be unworthy;

Formed for this one duty solely

Over all the mandates put to me

Or deputed

Along my life’s unfathomable passage,

And on the last page

Of my diary

I will write

That even though I doubted every step

It made them all without regret,

And shed every skin I wore

In order to allow

The cowl

Of fatherhood to fit.