I Told My Son

I told my son that women were so smart
To read the thoughts that men must speak to say
And yet the women that have known my heart
Have made mistakes that I am dumb to break.

Look at the pup and how he cocks his head:
He questions and he knows the answer too
More than a lover he has licked my mind
And smelled the scent of what I'm thinking through.

We hold no greatness, blessings of no God
Fall at our feet, for if we make the grade
We come back as an animal, unshod,
And elevated, in God's image made.

Go howl at moons and pretty girls, I said
For son, you must stay one who's not yet dead.

Nik Habermel, March 1997