How do you explain mental illness to a child? |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My daughter demands to know why I married her father so long ago. So I tell her of the times he and I hiked under the redwood's soft, spongy skin. I want to tell her how his hands felt on my lips and cheek and thigh, but instead I tell her of the blue jay's caw that her father's lips called to the air, and how the jays all swooped around and scolded loud at his trick. I do not tell her how many stars we counted between kisses. or the heat of her father's warm-muscled weight on my body. I tell her, instead, of the time he almost carried me across the creek, but fell. And the laughter then in his green-gray eyes that crinkled in the cracks. And how her father dried my body first although he shivered from the snow-melted plunge. And years later -- when my grandfather died how her father held me on his lap with arms wrapped securely round as I cried and needed arms wrapped securely round. But she doesn't listen. Her mind is set. "People do not change," she says when we go to visit him. She thinks he has always been an empty shell in that hospital room with those vacant green-gray eyes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Second Place Arandana Caverns Poetry Contest 1/15/03 "Invalid Item" |