Relay

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Aluminum baton, sprinted
to a teammate's backstretched hand;

a command in code run barefoot
on an ancient battlefield;

on Field Day, an egg on a spoon in the fist
of a meandering sixth grade dreamer

whose team was in the lead before
he dropped the egg in the grass;

or the passing on of genetic code
and the family name, and joy,

to this boy, the solitary dreamer
his parents lured downstairs

to share with them popcorn and TV,
and later their soft laughter

after all had gone to bed:
that relay ends with me.

May memory, in stories and rhymes,
be enough, passing on, to pass on.

[revised 25 January 2025]

Image by Susan Rouse.
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