The child enters.
"Knock knock" "Who's there?"
The father wonders at
the enduring appeal of jokes, 
the older we get
the fewer we hear.

The child grins through
the setup, knowing that it's worked
all day long
friend to friend
playground & cafeteria,
a center stage moment
he's rehearsed & honed.

The child delivers the punch.
There's more ah than ha
at first before the father
shifts from discovery to joy.
They laugh together.

Let there always be 
shared moments like this,
an assurance for each, 
a luxuriating in who's there
and why. May the doors
to their hearts always
be open to each other.

This is inspired by a writing challenge that Matthew Olzmann gave my students--write a poem that begins with a joke and ends with a prayer. Photo of Diego Rivera with his child here.