Hayden’s Key

In memory of my sweet, goofy, lovable nephew Hayden, who never took a house key with him. **BB was his baby word for cat, which was his favorite animal.

Did you forget your key, Hayden?

Did you leave it behind?

Was it just one of those things

You put out of your busy mind?

Could you not think, Hayden,

Of such a trivial thing?

When the world was your oyster

And time an endless string?

Would there come a day

When you might miss your key?

How could you consider it

In your life of frivolity?

Of course there was no need,

I can plainly hear you say,

For my family will let me in,

No matter the time of day

All I have to do is knock

Or ring them on the phone

Or loudly shout through an open window

That I am now home

A key is a trinket,

An unnecessity,

And surely I won’t need it

Because they love me

And yet, dear Hayden,

What about the day

When the door is locked

And everyone’s away?

What will happen when you knock

And no one appears at all?

What happens when you shout

And they do not hear your call?

What happens on the other side

When you cannot make it home?

Will your key then be your passport

To that destination unknown?

Of course I can hear you say

With your mischievous grin,

Who could deny this face?

Who wouldn’t want to let me in?

I can make it through the Gate

Be assured of that,

For they rolled out the gold carpet

Straight to the Welcome mat

My Nanaw will look after me

That you can believe is true

Until the rest of you join us both

Beyond the great, wide blue

And so we shall learn, dear Hayden,

To move from day to day

To hear you in the BB’s mews

To see you in the sun’s rays

And there it hangs on its hook, sweet Hayden,

That little left-behind key       

Foy you are now with God’s angels

In the greatest of company.