White Bear

Defender of dreams
Sentinel of innocence
Guardian of childhood
Keeps his silent watch
Each night
Over my son,
Even at 12-years-old
Who grasps his polar protector
A snow-white caricature of his Arctic brethren
Proudly wears his red badge of
Coca-Cola courage
He does not realize his mission is impossible
Adolescence is storming the castle of youth
His whiteness will turn
To well-loved gray
His stuffing will lose its fluff
And his charge change
From a boy to a man