This is one of my all time favorites to teach in my AP Lit and Comp class! As a father, it is almost impossible for me to read it and not tear up.
One day our boys will leave their homes and become men. That is a beautiful thing, but it doesn't mean it wont hurt a little when it happens. One day there will be no more stories, no more advice, no more wisdom for a father to give his son before he goes out into the great wide open and develops his own.
I remember starring at my infant child, new born into this world, and already I felt this pain: crazy.
"A Story" by Li-Young Lee
Sad is the man who is asked for a story
and can't come up with one.
His five-year-old son waits in his lap.
Not the same story, Baba. A new one.
The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear.
In a room full of books in a world
of stories, he can recall
not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy
will give up on his father.
Already the man lives far ahead, he sees
the day this boy will go. Don't go!
Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more!
You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider.
Let me tell it!
But the boy is packing his shirts,
he is looking for his keys. Are you a god,
the man screams, that I sit mute before you?
Am I a god that I should never disappoint?
But the boy is here. Please, Baba, a story?
It is an emotional rather than logical equation,
an earthly rather than heavenly one,
which posits that a boy's supplications
and a father's love add up to silence.
God bless. Pacho's Chachos for life!!!
Thank you for all of your support. God bless.
Pacho's Chachos for life!
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