The Death Of A Smile Poem by Alsteine Joi Diapana

Gently with both hands
I lifted him up
on his legs and I
taught him to stand
And before I knew it
his chubby little feet
were tottering further across
the kitchen without me
leaving invisible footprints
on the floor.

I smiled.

But then he started walking.
Up the stairs, outside the house
doddering this way and that
in the living room and across hall
learning to come in and out,
and go to school.
But before I knew it he was sprinting.
running, faster and farther
sailing across distant shores
From Manila, Vienna, Montreal
Nagasaki, New England, Spain...
Places farther
and farther without me

Now I set the postcards down
My smiles have faltered
as I try to search
with my faint eyes
for those footprints on our kitchen floor,
those little invisible marks he made
on the day I taught him to stand.