Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Advice to my nephew, Eamon, on the day after his third birthday

Mama's fine, don't mind the cracks
But watch where you put your feet.
A life is led in countless steps
And strangers you will meet.
Each one's a home and family
Each is a trap to bind your toes
Every place you go's somewhere you'll leave
And every path, to one more flows.
Nod your head at the lunatic
Hide yawns below the preacher
Hold the door for every girl your age
Whether you're glad to reach her.
Laugh with anyone who strikes you funny
Cry with everyone pathetic
Let every dream a dreamer shares
Be your own soul's diuretic.
For everything you say and write,
Each and every word
Will sound to you like heaven's voice
And to Uncle Doug, absurd.
Keep your feet beneath you-
Your day has come at last-
Keep one eye open, one hand held out,
And waddle forward to your past.

CORNY, adj. Avuncular

17 comments:

Jim said...

The corny uncle (avuncular) has some good advice for nephew in his poems.
..

pia said...

I was going to say something sarcastic but I love this. Great advice for anybody

TLP said...

The poem is too loving and special to crack wise about.

So I'll have to come back later to jab you.

Anonymous said...

Love it! Haven't read it to Eamon yet and not sure he'll understand it before his 21st birthday, but I love it. Thanks Uncle Dougie. Can't wait to see you!

Russell CJ Duffy said...

Sound advice. I have been waddling for years into my future and look where its got me!

Are they my teeth or someone elses?

k. riggs gardner said...

Don't you remember, C.J.?

You said, "If the gentleman in question is in need of dentures then please let me know as I found a set recently in the gutter in Wapping."

Or are those not the teeth you're referring to?

k. riggs gardner said...

And over at Stuffed Animal Tales, masterymistery said (just this past Friday), "you mean there is a world out there after all?"

I, too, wonder if that is, in fact, a legitimate question.

quilly said...

If you get too corny you'll end up in a chowder!

TLP said...

Corny: funny uncle. (Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.)

cooper said...

I hope you are putting all you prose into a leather-bound something or other for Eamon. He will want it when you are dead.

Great stuff.

corny,,,,why not at all

k. riggs gardner said...

I have always thought Vlad the Impaler was unduly harsh.

Rumor has it that he enjoyed "torturing, burning, skinning, roasting, and boiling people, feeding people the flesh of their friends or relatives, cutting off limbs, and drowning."

Doug The Una said...

Thanks, Jim. I put them in verse so there's no risk of any advice being followed.

Pia, if you were going to be sarcastic then 5.5 years of Waking Ambrose were not in vain.

TLP, please do.

'Na, I called Eamon yesterday with Ganny and he took the phone, said "Happy birthday, Uncle Doug" and ran off into the trees. I think he gets the poem right now.

CJ, as long as it's your meat, who cares?

Karen, if it isn't a legitimate question there's a legitimate question as to what is.

Quilly, there are worse fates.

TLP, I does my best.

Thanks, Actonbell.

Cooper, he's still too young for leather binding.

Karen, it's a shame to limit murderous tyrants unduly.

tsduff said...

How lucky is your nephew, to have an uncle who cares enough to write to him (Eamon) while still at such a tender age.

Nessa said...

Love your poem Uncle Dougy.

k. riggs gardner said...

Pay no attention to the ghost of VaNessa. She's risen from the grave because she's having a difficult time writing a NaNoWriMo. Besides that, Susan has entered the contest so VaNessa knows she can't win anyway.

moedico: needs her medication

Nicole said...

I just love it :-)

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