ODE TO JAMES

When you were born...
when I first saw your lovely, little face...
I knew this was to be the happiest day in my life.

In you, I saw a manifestation of my own being
present in the world.
My heart leapt...
it positively swelled with joy.

And now life has taken us down an unexpected road;
our paths have been prematurely split
not by design
not by any perverted wish
but by inexplicable fate.

Those moments together
frequently taken for granted,
have been cut short.

In those formative moments
when
I so dearly wish to watch you mature
we are apart...

Life decided you should have another "father"
not of your choice either.

When I do see you...
those fleeting snatches of heaven,
I feel the warm flame of love
that separation never extinguishes,
I see the longing in your eyes
I hear the forced understanding in your voice
and I know...

that we will never be divorced!

(James Frederick Harvey Fox, my son, was born twenty years ago today. He is as precious today as he was then!)