Little boy blue and the man in the moon...

Here's the second poem I turned in. I didn't like it, because I thought it was like "Cat's in the Cradle," except a happy version. Which naturally defeats the whole purpose of Harry Chaplin's song. But my prof really liked it, and here it is either way.

Socks to the Sailor

We hear the screen door open
We sprint for the kitchen
“Daddy’s home!”
Socks slide on linoleum
And the thump of Dan hitting the floor
Scares the bejeezes out of the cat

The bright eyed man in a crisp uniform
Puts down his tattered lunchbox
Just before he gets hit by a kid
Then another, harder than the last,
And then Dan, making his recovery
Driving him, laughing, back into the mudroom

He tussles my hair
Knocking my glasses askew
And drops the hat of a captain
Onto Nelly’s head
Dan snatches it off and there is a scramble
And the sailor becomes a jungle gym

He reads to us for a while
And we are breathless in Narnia
Then laughing as Mr. Toad gets a motorcar
And when we see what’s through the looking glass
We, too, can’t help but to think
“Curiouser and curiouser.”

Now the sailor is weary through the door
And his mustache has flecks of gray
We have changed too
A long-haired hippie, a long-limbed guitar player
And a girl who wears her own uniform hat
But our socks still slip when we run to greet him

See you in a day or two, or maybe less.

Love,
Charlie