painting by Alan Storkey

Simeon: on letting go

Enough to see the child

if not behold the man.

Enough to know the end

of waiting without being

witness to his wonders.

Enough to hold him once

and then leave his future

in other people’s hands.

Younger, and I might have said

I am not content with just a part

in the beginning of a story

whose unfolding is going on without me.

Yet I walked away in peace because

the day I found his promise

proved his promise was sufficient.

For myself I looked for nothing else.

poem by Mike Bartholomew-Biggs

Helping with Enquiries (London: Crossgrain, 2005)