poem inspired by this painting of Count Issepo da Porto and his son Adriano by Paul Véronèse (1555)
poem written for online poetry class
He stands beside his child the way a tree stands beside its shadow~ not owning it, not shaping it, but offering a place to grow in the shelter of his presence. The boy leans in, trust quiet as breath, as if he already knows that the world is easier to face when a father’s steadiness is close enough to touch. There is no need for words. Love moves in the small distances~ the space between two hands, the tilt of a shoulder, the soft gravity that pulls one life toward another. On Father's Day what matters most is not the weight of legacy or the echo of a family name, but the simple truth that a child stands taller~ when a father stands near.
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