the wolf and

The search for meaning

Only

Only I hear her first words.
"Hi" and "Bye" are oft-heard now in public,
sing-song spoken to strangers at the store;
and again and again to Daddy
as we sit home in our living roo
but it's only me who knows the secrets she says up close.
Is it my job to remember, to record for her?
Would they be lost otherwise -
pointing to eyes and saying "eyes"
"no" for nose and other repetitive phrases
that may mean see the birds or see the baby or
something else only you know.
only us in this world, for now.

5 o'clock

at 5 o'clock, we sat down to dinner at the kitchen table. Baby in her highchair, a mom and dad, sunlight in the valley, fajitas.

An idyll, this part of life. All of us happy. Together, alone, needing nothing but each other, laughing a lot. The small joys of our small family are overwhelming in their beauty.

I am trying

I haven't had my heart broke
in a really long time.
If you love me a fifth as much
I will feel irradiated by you.