the young dad in the tate members room has not quite settled into his very new role.
his very young face and his very tight jeans and his not very but still a bit hipster beard betray a mind that only a year ago or so couldn't quite have imagined himself sitting here now.
sitting here now perhaps, but probably not like this. not two thirds of a large leather sofa away from his girlfriend or maybe now wife, staring blankly ahead out of the window pane onto st paul's.
the girlfriend or maybe now wife is all aglow with motherly love pride and joy. the babe in her arms has all her attention and all her warmth and all the gift of her love as she feeds him from a small bottle. she is in her world and in her world too is the babe. young dad is in his. two thirds of a sofa between them.
when she gets up and hands him the babe he smiles and takes care as he holds the little living thing in his arms and admires it like an alien. he feeds it a bit too from the small bottle and he's relieved when the mother returns and takes the babe off his arms once again.
they sit for a while longer and for a while longer it like looks like the young dad, who is still a trendy dude at heart with things on his mind just the same as a year or so ago, when perhaps he was told, or perhaps they decided, you're going to be a dad, couldn't quite fathom then the enormity of the tiny thing now falling asleep in the arms of the young woman next to him, two thirds of a sofa and quite a world or so removed.
as they leave she carries the creature and he wrestles a bit with the stroller but then manages all right. he seems like the kind of young man who maybe now is saying goodbye to part of himself that he had got used to and probably quite got to like, and not quite yet said hello to a part of him that's apparently come to him out of nowhere, like a strange surprise of something that happens to be so, not unlike a task given to him by his mum when he was ten, but he's a nice, friendly, good lad, and now, like tidying up his room or doing his homework or eating his peas before leaving the table, young dad is grappling a bit with a reality that doesn't really make sense, but all in all one imagines that he'll manage all right.
his very young face and his very tight jeans and his not very but still a bit hipster beard betray a mind that only a year ago or so couldn't quite have imagined himself sitting here now.
sitting here now perhaps, but probably not like this. not two thirds of a large leather sofa away from his girlfriend or maybe now wife, staring blankly ahead out of the window pane onto st paul's.
the girlfriend or maybe now wife is all aglow with motherly love pride and joy. the babe in her arms has all her attention and all her warmth and all the gift of her love as she feeds him from a small bottle. she is in her world and in her world too is the babe. young dad is in his. two thirds of a sofa between them.
when she gets up and hands him the babe he smiles and takes care as he holds the little living thing in his arms and admires it like an alien. he feeds it a bit too from the small bottle and he's relieved when the mother returns and takes the babe off his arms once again.
they sit for a while longer and for a while longer it like looks like the young dad, who is still a trendy dude at heart with things on his mind just the same as a year or so ago, when perhaps he was told, or perhaps they decided, you're going to be a dad, couldn't quite fathom then the enormity of the tiny thing now falling asleep in the arms of the young woman next to him, two thirds of a sofa and quite a world or so removed.
as they leave she carries the creature and he wrestles a bit with the stroller but then manages all right. he seems like the kind of young man who maybe now is saying goodbye to part of himself that he had got used to and probably quite got to like, and not quite yet said hello to a part of him that's apparently come to him out of nowhere, like a strange surprise of something that happens to be so, not unlike a task given to him by his mum when he was ten, but he's a nice, friendly, good lad, and now, like tidying up his room or doing his homework or eating his peas before leaving the table, young dad is grappling a bit with a reality that doesn't really make sense, but all in all one imagines that he'll manage all right.
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