I want a child,
a child I never had,
and I want to name it
Money.

I’ll lay Money
in a bed, snugged in warm
in cotton fleece, tease its eyes open
as soon as is safe
and know me as Father,

but I don’t want Money
to feel obligated to care for me
when I am helpless and old,
when I am laid in my own sick bed
and waiting to go.

I want a child and I will name it Money
and see it through its youth
and let it go, I am willing to let it be
a lesser part of my life
once it’s ready to go out
into the world.

I just want to know
I can care for it, enough
to take my joy in its presence
without dependence upon it.