School Bus

4.11.13

That first day you put them on the bus

To head to Kindergarten without you

It is a hard day, even if tv commercials

Have stolen the sentimentality

Of course they never really take the bus

The first day, you take them, and

Take pictures with their first backpack

Little ones are usually compliant

So for years you walk them to the bus stop

To insure that they didn’t get kidnapped four doors

Down from your house with all the other

Parents or caregivers keeping out a watch

Then comes middle school and you are banned

From even venturing out of your house

Fights start to ensue about taking a lunch or

Getting money to just buy chips and a drink

You finally give in when you are called

To the school because a stench is coming

From your kid’s locker

And there are 30 brown bags stuffed in there

Along with all the hoodies that were supposedly lost

Then comes high school. No teenager should

Have to be at the bus stop in the dark at 7 am

But now you are banned from even leaving your bedroom

Of course until you hear the front door open and slam

And you hear Mom, I missed the bus

I thought I hated all that. Especially the later years.

Now I can hear each bus as it stops in both the morning

And the afternoon. High School, Middle and then Elementary

Picking up and dropping off the most precious cargo ever

And I miss it. I miss it. I miss it.