Starting Over

Estranged
by Daron Larson

A man about my age recently discovered
he was not kidnapped at birth,
but simply abandoned
and substituted for a wanted boy.

Genetic tests can really
unravel a personal narrative.

They might free us from injustice
or convince us we were robbed
of an unwritten version of our lives.  

We're constantly revising
our autobiographies, 
forgetting that they will only be
considered for serious publication 
posthumously.

Most of the lived dialogue is so poorly written,
and most of the characters are one dimensional.

They will have to be heavily edited
before the grandchildren will
even bother to skim them,
but not even shared DNA
will be enough to goad them
into slogging through all the mundane details
that are better experienced than described.  

Children live;
adults narrate.

It’s very difficult for grown ups
to stay in love
with the simple play of the senses.
Little children yield to it
without hesitation or deliberation,

     until we teach them to grow up.

We insist that we love resolution,
but who can resist returning to the beginning
and starting over.