Tough Love

Tough Love

The old man sat shaking, 

Tears running down his cheeks; 

the boy huddled on his lap  trembling 

From the exhaustion of his recent outburst. 

Their relationship was an unusual one, 

He would  never know his biological father. 

The old man had accepted him as his own 

More a grandfather than a father. 

Now four years old 

He was yet to learn that none of us 

Can always get what we want. 

To watch Disney cartoons on the TV.  

Mesmerized, sit staring for hours 

Responding to what he was seeing. 

The old man and the boy returned from the beach

 A broad expanse of almost white fine sand. 

The boy would happily play in it for hours. 

An onlooker could be persuaded 

That he seemed to be engaged 

In a conversation with an invisible friend. 

Later he wanted to watch cartoons, 

The old man didn't have anything against cartoons, 

Marvelled at the skill evident in their making, 

Almost life like movements that the characters made. 

Andrew's mother didn't want him to watch them. 

The stage was set for an almighty conflict. 

Slowly it began with Andrew's attempts to switch on the TV 

When it became obvious to Andrew 

The old man was not going to weaken, 

The paddy began with screams and shouts, 

The sound rising to a crescendo. 

Andrew threw himself on the floor 

Shaking and kicking but the old man didn't weaken. 

'Why don't you go downstairs and play with the other children,' 

A shouted 'I don't want to.'  

The two were at an impasse, 

The old man seated in a chair 

Andrew crouching on the floor

 Not far away, shouting and screaming. 

It went on for a long time but gradually 

Andrew grew tired and his shouts weakened. 

The old man watched and remembered;

Remembered his own childhood.

The many occasions he went into a fury

Unable to get what he wanted. 

He waited and watched beckoning/ 

Eventually and very reluctantly. 

The boy slowly relaxed on the old man's lap. 

He closed his eyes and the two hugged each other.  

The closeness of the boy and the poignancy of the moment 

Reduced the old man to tears. 

At that moment he was reminded

 Of what he already knew 

That he was unlikely to live long enough 

To see this beautiful gracious boy into manhood.