Tiny booties once bound his feet, tender and soft wool wound about his tiny toes, no, long gone are those booties now, down a worm-hole of time. I hear the sound of his clomping down the street (which would instill fear into a Cabaret clown living in Nazi Germany) with his amphibians just like jack-boots and yet I know all his wounds, hopes and fears, that haven’t yet been tempered by years and years of experience. No tiny toes fill these boots wound about with socks of fleece, walking down the streets sealed in hard leather, emitting sounds like stormy weather. The seal of childhood has long gone into the tumbling eons of time … alive now just in my memory seen through the looking-glass of this old Alice, who’d tumble gladly down that rabbit hole, to hold once more those tiny feet, wound in fleeced booties … ah, they smelled so sweet.
© G.s.k. ‘15
wound, sound, burst, clown, emit, glass, fill , seal, another, tumble, fleece, instill
written for Sunday Whirl and Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie – BJ Shadorma & Beyond using Brenda Warren’s Sunday Whirl Wordle.
wound, sound, burst, clown, emit, glass, fill , seal, another, tumble, fleece, instill
What is it about the smell of a baby that clings to a mother’s heart? How do you define that baby smell, and when does it leave our children? I just don’t know. But I felt such heartache here, Georgia. “Sealed in hard leather, emitting sounds like stormy weather” — brilliant wording.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jen … it’s hard to say when they exchange their booties for amphibians and when the soft sweet smell turns to sweat and manhood smells …
LikeLike
Was thinking about this this evening — kiddo sprawled with his size 38 feet (or whatever!) hanging over the couch — and at age 13 he’s had to revisit his hygiene (ahem). Where’d the baby go????
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah yes … they do grow so fast … and yes, the sweet smell of childhood leaves with the growing 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sweet baby smell is all gone … and all I have is the pong of a teenager, LOL!
LikeLike
Oh yes .. the pong! That was the word I was looking for and it just wouldn’t come to mind! Thanks Jen!
LikeLike
Ayup. Kiddo’s got plenty of pong these days. 😛
He also has what is most *definitely* the FLU. 😦
LikeLike
Poor guy … hope it passes quickly … that ain’t no fun for anyone!
LikeLike
He had me scared this evening — haven’t seen him this sick in years. Temp almost 104; his joints were swollen. He may have to go to the doctor tomorrow — but I hate that — always that “it’s a virus, what can we do?” thing. But the joint pain is concerning. And this snowballing cough.
LikeLike
I’d take him to the doctor … I don’t suppose they do house calls … the swollen joints and snowballing cough and that high fever doesn’t sound good at all!
LikeLike
No, not good at all. I’m about to go check on him and give him some more meds.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The sipper on my boot broke, so I borrowed my 13 year old’s to shovel snow in – and fell down because my size 10 feet were slipping all around in these huge boots…to be fair, though, he was over ten pounds at birth, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
I loved the baby he was; I love the boy-becoming-a-man he is even more – even if he smells less sweet than when he was brand-new. =)
LikeLiked by 2 people
I do so agree with you … it’s an adventure and a great one at that. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh wow …. sounds like a big kid!
Most of the time I’m overjoyed with the man he’s becoming. Except I could do without that teen “tude” he’s developing, of course, but such is life. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I really think kids need to test things out on their parents first. Safer social ground, and all that.
I do have to say that we’ve had very little of that so far – just normal hormonal stuff. It helps that he’ s not in school, and he’s got a lot of autonomy in his own life. There’s just not a lot to rebel against here. Even his little sister is pretty cool!
And, yeah, he’s a big boy. Takes after his Daddy!
LikeLiked by 2 people
And my own little big guy is rebelling against *everything* in his own way. Not belligerent – just a real smart alec. (I have no idea where he got THAT…). 😉
Great sense of humor though… Tough to reprimand a kid when you want to grin….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I jut tend to ask, “What’s your goal here?” And then I admit that it was funny (because it usually was!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I say, “real funny … but you’re still in trouble ….” 😉
LikeLike
We really don’t do “You’re in trouble,” so I think, if I said that, I’d get the laugh. =)
LikeLiked by 1 person
A mother sees her child still even when they a grown up and treading their own path. But each of us chooses own own paths and mothers cry.
LikeLike
Ah … yes, they walk their own roads and it would be wise for a mother to remember that … btw he’s changed his shoe style and he’s a lovely person.
LikeLike
What a wonderful piece – sometimes love goes astray but i hope always that good things return from the rabbit hole…and i like how Alice has grown..she never gives up trying or hoping..
LikeLike
Ah sometimes life can create it’s own little deviations … but that’s what it’s all about. We raise our children to walk on their own path, we have our memories and can appreciate the present and it’s bright moments.
LikeLike
I have two that have grown and gone their ways – grandchildren and all that now, but I still have odd little socks and t-shirts that remind me how tiny they once were. 🙂 Lovely poem, Georgia.
LikeLike
Thanks Misky … I’ve three and have just become a great grand-mother … how time passes! In a big steamer trunk I’ve still got the odds and ends of their childhood … I use the trunk for seasonal changes so twice a year, there they are booties, bibs a quilts … have a great day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How lovely!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLike
This is lovely and wistful write. But so full of longing. It brought tears to my eyes.
LikeLike
Oh my … you know, I’ve seen a lot of comments like this and I was a little surprised. I wasn’t feeling at all nostalgic when I wrote it … just thinking how he was once so tiny and now he wears a size 52 (european) shoe … and went from there.
LikeLike
A wonderful piece of prose. I really enjoyed it.
Pamela
LikeLike
Thanks Pamela …
LikeLike
This is so nostalgic….every maternal bone in my body is now oh-so-wistful for a whiff of my own sweet babies’ toes in their little booties of yesteryear!
LikeLike
Thanks CC for your comment .. but believe me, I wasn’t nostalgic when I wrote the poem … I must have struck some sweet cords here, a lot of people are feeling like you did when you wrote this comment!
LikeLike
wonderful piece you have written. Like the alice in wonderland reference
LikeLike
Thanks Cathy … I think that the world “hole” jogged that out of my brain!
LikeLike
oh my
even i was a baby once so long ago
now the two oldest grandchildren are off to college in the fall
the guard is always changing
namaste
jzb
LikeLike
yes it is … a wonderful thought really … namaste
georgia.
LikeLike
Those toes.. yes I have somewhere some of my own little shoes.. they are soo tiny… 🙂
LikeLike