Completely At Ease

There was a lack of early guidance,
parenting in those days was:

find your own way
and a slap across

the ear if you strayed.
He was a slow learner, thus -
his cauliflower ears.

Though learning the hard way

did have its advantages
in his 'kill or be killed'

part of the world; he soon learned –

to do to those as they'd do to him –

but to do it first. Getting

the first one in was half the battle

won. Always on his toes,

always at the ready -
to strike first and ask questions

afterwards; always on his guard,

I wondered if he ever slept.

Then

on a midsummer's evening
when the sun had turned

deep orange
and edged closer

to the horizon,

I caught him -
reading Shelley in the shade

of a sycamore;
he was completely

at ease.

~Esmond Jones~