National Poetry Month: Day Eighteen

Last Time

                                        for Max


I did not want to
talk about lasts

because I can see next year
coming with its pockets full of firsts

but seeing you last night
sitting with your cello

for the last time
in the elementary school crowd

choked me up - more than
I care to admit.

Before the concert
as the high school kids

moved through the rows
tuning, I knew with a certainty

that was hard to swallow
that will be you someday

and when the music swelled
on the last number

I could tell your eyes
were filled with tears too.

Flush with love
 for all the yous

the past, the future
and the wonderful now of you.

These are the first lasts
you will remember -

that lasts I will never forget.