Parents Visiting "Their" Freshman
Article voiceover
Oblivious to their students’ hangovers
Their “folks,” having traveled so far to reach
What was once home, march into the morning.
A step ahead, their students walk as if masters,
Draped in a new languid wisdom and smug pride,
Leading, finally, the jostling elders behind them.
The parents fret and question. A mother
Reaches out to straighten a daughter’s hair
But pulls back from this new stranger.
A father steps away from a knot of greetings
And looks for clues on the bulletin board
For the daughter they sent away to be lost.
Ignoring their parents’ furrowed brows, pursed lips
And bitten back questions, the blooming progenies
Step towards the sunrise of their shifting identities.