skin to skin

i want to remember always the weight of your head in my palm,

the trusting fullness of your tummy tucked in the crook of my arm;

your little murmurs of satisfaction and your butterfly hands

flittering up to my shoulder, then weightlessly floating back down,

your exquisite earlobe moving back and forth with every swallow.

i want to remember always the way your chest rises and falls

like a little bird and how, when you fall asleep, you turn your head

and purse your perfect lips and stop breathing for an endless moment

and then sigh, and i curl you up to me, cradling all of you,

all you are now and all you are going to be, and then softly

lay you down in your little bed. you stretch into a snow angel.