lullaby haiku

sleep now tiny one

eyes shut to this flashing world

wrapped in love’s blanket

chatting with little Roger

five hours old new

cheeks new

skin new

eyelashes

wrapped in white

tenderly held

in careful father hands

striped sweater crouched over this

newness

whispering sweetness

into new

ears

welcome little one

son

you are

loved

you are

a part of us

grow play learn laugh cry love

and we will watch and

weather the storms with you

our hands a cradle

twenty-sixteen

then dance

in three-four time

cadencing            balancing

on precipice

then dance

trumpets

heralding             ushering

new and old

then dance

January wind-chill

settling in            stilling

tipping point of winter

then dance

violet blossoms

defying                purpling

a smiling softness

then dance

azure sky through bare branches

brighting              basking

this all snow

then dance

a new year

unrelenting        unstopping

        this waltz of life

cold snap

and then it turns

(the weather I mean)

into a shiver

snow squeaking under boot

sun raining frost bullets

in middle of mild winter

taut string struck

with wooden mallet

pure sound rings in room

pure perfect cold

and I in

insulated heated home

let the snap invade my skin because

I am north

I am 49^th parallel

I am prairie

I am Ukraine steppe

I am windswept

I am Bach

I am Paert

I am Schaeffer

I am Stravinsky 

I am home

Noah Maximilian

arriving early

like an oracle

a flood of feelings

tiny miracle of

hands and feet

and eyes that bore deep

releasing a rainbow

colours bursting out and surrounding

we          here

half a world away

see pictures but can only guess at

the wonder it is to behold

this life now so largely present in the

world

arms raised in triumph

little fists ready

to live a life extraordinary

ready to step onto a land

transformed