Dedicated to Dad.
"Esse Quam Videri," is Latin for
To Be Rather Than To Seem

Daddy beholds his new-born baby girl,
his eyes mirroring her.
He receives innocense rekindled
deep within the belly;
she enfolds, deeper still,
seeds of her Self
to be years in cultivation.
Esse Quam Videri

Life-long companion Border Collie,
Sheppy's heart outlives his body.
Mommy promises the vet came to the car;
Daddy promises his girl of seven,
"No doubt, dogs do go to Heaven."
Esse Quam Videri

Mountain breeze songs on high;
Snake Creek rushing low.
Wild Honey Bee tree guards
her favorite fishing hole.
Dad coaches, "Be calm; be still.
Then as bee-buzzing with breezes sing,
they will find no cause to sting."
Esse Quam Videre

On back porch sudden Summer storm brews.
Mighty Cottonwood sways heavily.
Cumulus Nimbus stack up as the Dragaon,
Fire-breathing.
Dad regards her as if he's teasing,
"You want to see it disappear?"
Then as if He and the storm are One,
wide-eyed, she watches him
gaze into the Dragon. . . gone.

Finally at tomorrow's horizon,
one day soon she'll fly. But for now
Love and her military beau
tempt she tell a lie. . .
off to California for a fling
she could go--
there is no REAL reason
Dad should have to know. . .
For these depths of cause at the time
unfathomable to guess,
first that she determined to ask,
and then, that he simply said, "Yes!"
Esse Quam Videri