the best thing – a poem

Perhaps the best thing I can do today

is to hold my baby close —

to smile at him, to delight in him —

to show him that today, he is safe and loved.

The world is not safe, of course,

but if, perhaps, he believes it is

during these young years,

if he eases into reality

with a guiding, trustworthy hand,

if he discovers it in pieces

and not all at once,

perhaps he won’t fear it

as I do.

5/23/16