Peter Pan Comes Visiting

How well I knew him, Peter. Friend from childhood, he came over from time to time; Entertained my children far better than I could myself. They loved to see him, pined for his wild laugh In the gaps between his visits. I'd known him since Kindergarten, Then as somewhat still a goldenhaired Forever Boy Whose ice blue eyes always seemed to be looking Off into some babe-fresh world nobody else could see. After the children crashed to bed Worn to exhaustion from excess of joy We'd sit and trade lies, pretending It's Never Too Late, Lots of Time Yet to Grow Up Ignoring the steady disappearance of those golden locks My own shining silver. He's somehow eluded the adulthood that claims us all, Yet knows at heart how it steals upon him yet, A little closer year by year The relentless tread of time, The turning of our little earth. A favorite friend became A strange fear that grew and grew, As every day the kids grew a little heavier to remind me That maybe sometime soon the last Lost Boy Might fly to my door one last time On a carrion wind And stand there, all out of Happy Thoughts And beg me to take him in.