“you that have shown me
what I came to see
from the beginning
just as it was leaving”
(W. S. Merwin, “To These Eyes”)

just as it was leaf-ing,
that birth-wet sheen

attendants quick
to wash presentable

to Edenic mothers
easing now into that smile,

waiting on their baby
swaddled in

soft-spun cotton,
miracle of tiny lips pursing

bubble-pop, human guppy
squirmed gasping

from cocoon-canal,
grasping for mom,

together to begin
the leaving.

*For our family, City Light Community Ministries.

W. S. Merwin, “To These Eyes,” Garden Time, Copper Canyon Press, 2016, p. 14.

W. S. Merwin, “Daylight After The Autumn Equinox,” Garden Time, Copper Canyon Press, 2016, p. 13.