It's Enough

It's enough
when the sun fulfills its promise
as it rises over well-worn eastern mountains
flooding golden hopes and promises across
drought-stricken earth

when a lazy two-tone cat rolls its back
on still cool concrete stretches its left paw
toward a cloud and drops it head before
heading off to the hunt

when a salt soaked ocean breeze
rambles across the quiet sand of changing tides
through bungalow-lined streets,
up business-attire boulevards, and into the
soul of scrub-brush chaparral

when the incessant chirping of caged birds
competes with the mechanical hum of appliances,
the swooshing traffic across sun-bleached asphalt,
and the faint rumble of jet engines
as people begin and end their journeys

it's enough
when faces smile and speak in courteous tones
directing you through the courtyard
surrounded by shades of institutional blue walls
aluminum seats lined up in neat rows
and even a futile splash of color for decoration
or camouflage
or denial

it's enough
when well-intentioned words spill from the mouths
just below the sympathetic eyes looking at you
pulling standardized data from their brains
while sliding across standard government-issue table
pen and paper covered with the words
for you to agree with a signature that
your son, once again, is not good enough

that he has a limit
that his smile does not produce the necessary percentages
that his hug does not have a place on their graph
that his words are not within the expected lexile
that they may never be enough
that he is not enough

That is enough
to drive a man crazy