The Headmaster

A big man
With thundering eyebrows
And a smile the size of a house
Turning stone into undulating joy

Children scatter, except the one
Glued to the spot by those eyebrows
Dangerous admiration spills
From young wide eyes turned upward
Then quickly turned down
Into the cracks between the floorboards

Many a child’s salvation
Still swims in that thunder

At football games
A roar goes up
And lands near the halfway line
Energy propelled as if to fuel the players

Then at Christmas
With babies on his knee
And velvet in his voice
He’s every child’s daddy
And proud as can be

In memory of Sean Crowley, 2001