new Love

for Sarah on the birth of Susan Elizabeth



you have to tell me about her


her downy head against your lips
how she fills you with her soft perfume
her tiny voice spilling
on to your open arms
crying for your breast
in innocence
on womblike nights

you have to share

let me hold her in my mind
help me remember
how it was for me
when I held my own
just after
they passed through me
into this world