IN JERUSALEM AT THE FEAST

The child was bright and eager enough to learn

and had a knack of leading that was thought

natural to a firstborn. He was not

troublesome. She saw how he could turn

with ease to those around him and attract

their kind regard. His elders were bemused,

perhaps, but very few would have refused

to speak with him, encourage, or correct. 

Nothing prepared you for the grinding fear

he gave you the day he stayed behind, the day

you finally found him standing in the array

of learned men, conversing as a peer.

“It is my father’s business,” he said. And you knew

the time when he was merely your son was through.