in your boyhood
you tucked your secret exploits away
into your cheek
and savored them there
you come here
now full grown
with a boy of your own
for confession
to tell me of the many times
you lit a fire in the woods
how you and that pack
of neglected boys you so loved
took daring leaps
over the flames
again and again
with your bicycles
I can imagine you
soot smudging your sweaty cheeks
deeply hidden in that primal place
able let the smothered wild in you howl out
I am surprised at this power
I still hold
there is something shy
in the way you reveal it
you are all at once
so bold, so proud
so guilty, so relieved
