Because of Julian

for Annie Finch & Glen Brand

Fishing the manila envelope from my mail I’m thinking: 1) my friend has come through and sent me job stuff I can't stand but need and 2) maybe there's a note inside. The stuff's there all right, but no note. Instead

a picture of my friends’ child who is now
losing that baby-sameness and arriving at the bond
between personality & look, & the combo’s so enticing
I am, again, forced to try my poor prayer of thanks
that my dear distant friends have been so blessed
because the kid is a vision ---
he is the lens light loves best, yes,
light luxuriates in his joy before it bounces
off his perfect little boy’s fingers, his golden forearm,
his ears & nose & sun sheen of hair & most of all
his eyes that covet nothing but give all away
to every thing & one. This young man, this Julian,
the issue of my friends, clearly contains the fish-boned
mystery of innocence & it plays across his face for free
& I take it in &, O lord, even in the time- & space-distanced
glory of this snapshot, I take it in & want to laugh & cry & believe
that my own already jaded children can come out of
the aquamarine booths culture has provided for them
to remember precisely when
they were as beautiful outside and in
as Julian,
& that the certainties of innocence are fine
inside their memories. And in mine.