The Shoots Poem by Shane McCrae

Nicholas turned eleven two

Months he ago a he ago

I after him a-running still

But quietly and far away


For the first time turned far away

Without me or without that day

Me seeing him on all the bright-

ness gone the day the snow had gone


Completely gone as we have gone

Who were the worlds we walked far down

Into our lives without each oth-

er as snow into earth as water


Goes into earth and as the water

Touches the roots the dry roots wait for

A signal from the sun and air

And do not green the shoots and what


The water thought it was and what

I thought I was we learn we're not we're

Life but not always life and not

Forever he grows without his father