Growing Down

I loved to hear him gasp with scared delight Safe in my grasp, as we slid down the peat Between the fir tree branches, low with cones Close to the thundering Falls on angled feet His tumbled toddler knees were brown with bark Behind my skirts, he’d bounce and wave for fun A wingless fledgling, golden in the light Greeting the waters haloed by the sun Now he’s the human crutch I lean against As, roles reversed, we slide towards the Falls Watching them plunge into their own demise Far and away, a wheeling buzzard calls.