A POEM TO SHIFT THE MOOD: "SHADOW BUCKAROO"

Gentle Readers, these past few posts have been quite contentious. So I thought I might emphasize what we are really fighting about: the future of the kids. 

On Thanksgiving 1991 my family celebrated at my kid brother's house in Cincinnati. Sometime around dusk, my then 2-year-old  nephew climbed onto his rocking-horse and really went to town. 

The late afternoon sun cast a man-sized shadow on the wall beside him as he played "cowboy". When I got back to Virginia, I thought about this and saw in my mind's  eye the shadow as the uncertain future of my 2 year old nephew. (Bye the bye, my nephew turned out fine.)

So I wrote down the following poem, and here it is. 

SHADOW BUCKAROO

(COPYRIGHT 1991, 2016 BY F. ALLEN NORMAN JR.)

Little Cowboy, little man,

Ridin' your rockin' horse as hard as you can,

As you're bouncin' and yellin' out your Cowboy call

The sun shows your shadow on the wall

And your shadow, it's as big as me,

Is it it the shadow of the Man you'll someday be?

Will you grow up true and strong and tall?

Who's the Man behind the Shadow on the Wall?

Who's the Man behind the Shadow

Of the Little Buckaroo?

It's so hard to tell what'll come in life

When you're only two;

If we could figure it out,

Then every other question

We sure could answer them all

If we could figure out the mystery of the shadow on the wall.

Well you're bouncin' up and down, yellin' "yippeeyiyay!"

You sure are havin' fun,

But the Shadow Bronco-Buster

Seems to be barely hangin' on

Then you lean way back, and pull on the reins.

Boy, you're havin' a ball

But the Shadow Cowboy at your side 

Looks like he's gonna fall

Then Mommy rings the chuck-wagon bell

And you sit up tall and straight

And the Shadow Buckaroo squares his shoulders as well.

He knows it's gettin' late

And you dismount to go to dinner

And your Shadow dismounts too,

And though the Shadow Cowboy isn't as big now

He still follows close to you.

Who's the Man behind the Shadow

Of the Little Buckaroo? 

Will he do great things, will he have a good life, 

Will he even make it through?

If we could figure it out, then every other mystery

We sure could answer it too;

If we could figure out the mystery

Of the Shadow Buckaroo