Birthday Reflections

Turned sixty three today –
still the same wee
boy ashamed to confess
he’d peed his pants

sat in ‘em in silence forever
in the rear seat
adamant to keep
the peace –

the teacher’s fond gaze less
a panacea for forgiveness
than the ‘free for the asking’
false sense of sanctuary

bigger than a baby but too
small to see the light
of her modest wisdom
too scared to cry
© 6 September 2008, I. D. Carswell