Pocono Lakeside

As I was guided by the director through the thick space
Of these rooms, worn sparrow brown, and strode
With the August sun on my shoulders across this particular
Acre of grass, nobody had told me this was the place
Where you had summered as a boy. I have weathered
My fourth decade, older now than you were 
When you died. I can barely remember you, yet I can see 
You not as my father but as my son. You are age nine.
The downpour divides into two massive stage curtains			
Parting. You bolt from the bunk, loudly racing 
With your chums down the slippery hill to the dock, 
Your cape of a towel flapping as if ready to lift you airborne. 

You are the smallest. Still, you always run in the front.
You do not know how beautiful you are, of course, squinting 
Against the sun, the flame that escapes behind the gray				
Vapor for hours, sometimes for days. You cannot see				
That from the beginning it has been eyeing you from afar,
That it has focused its golden spotlight just for you.